Belonging: The Rubric

Belonging

• Belonging is a perception. Perceptions and ideas of belonging, or of not belonging, vary.
• Perceptions are shaped within contexts: personal, cultural, historical and social.
• A sense of belonging can emerge from connections with: people, places, groups, communities and the larger world. 
• How do texts explore belonging? Texts explore many aspects of belonging. Texts explore the potential of the individual to enrich a community or group. Texts can also explore the potential of the individual to challenge a community or group.
• Texts reflect the way attitudes are modified over time.
• Texts can represent: choices not to belong and barriers which prevent belonging.
• Belonging is represented by, and perceptions of belonging are constructed through a variety of: language modes, forms, features and structures.
• In engaging with a text, the responder may experience and understand possibilities presented by: belonging to the text, exclusion from the text, belonging to the world the text represents and exclusion from the world the text represents.
• Engagement is influenced by the different ways perspectives are: given voice in a text OR absent from a text.