High school is a crucial time for young people. They are in the process of forming their identities amidst a barrage of influences. These influences range from familial to societal. Growing up in a culturally diverse nation, today’s youth is constantly interacting with people of different backgrounds. Combined with a wide exposure to different mediums of information, students deal with multiple factors that influence the development of their identity. I believe that when one recognizes his/her own identity, he/she is able to acknowledge and learn about others. I have constructed a unit that deals with the formation of identity. My unit will tackle these important questions: What is identity? What defines me? How do I define others? How do others define me? At this critical stage of adolescence, I also believe that students must be aware of who they are, what they value and how they see others. By examining issues concerning gender, race, class and religion and how they define a person, the student will be able to understand more fully how their own concept of self influences the way they view the world. A student develops his/her identity throughout the years of secondary education. Anita Woolfolk says that "Children’s understandings of themselves are concrete at first, and then become more abstract. In time, children are able to think abstractly about internal processes-beliefs, intentions, values, motivations. With these developments, knowledge of self, others and situations can incorporate more abstract qualities" (Woolfolk, 73). Early childhood identity focuses on the obvious appearances that make us unique from one another. However, as students get older and enter high school, the differences are much more complicated. Two African American students may look similar, but they may be from two completely different backgrounds. Their differences are not clear cut. At this stage of education, students are learning more about themselves and how that makes them different from others. Penelope Eckert says, “The function of adolescent society in moving the individual’s identity into the societal sphere is enhanced by the extent to which the individual can perceive himself or herself in relation to those values.” (74) The concept of self constantly changes depending on the situation. It “evolves through constant