Using+the+Danger+of+a+Single+Story

This is what Lisa did

-- I asked the students to journal first; I just gave them the prompt, "What is the danger of a single story?" And they interpreted it however they wanted -- We brainstormed our own ideas and made a big list on the board. Then we watched Adichie's TED talk, and I asked them to compare what she was saying about the danger of a single story to what we had predicted/brainstormed. I showed about the first 12 minutes of her speech. Then students journaled about what Adichie thought the danger of a single story is -- and a time when they had told a single story -- or had a single story told about them. We shared stories -- the one I remember most is the student whose father is Arab; he talked about how students ask him if he is a terrorist. Finally, we applied Adichie's message to Achebe's Things Fall Apart -- What does Achebe think is the danger and the power of a Single Story -- because that is his point in writing Things Fall Apart -- to show Europeans that they have told a single story about colonialism and Africa.