Stereotypes and “Single Stories”

Day 1

1. Journal Response: Responding to Assumptions
   Begin the lesson by giving students a few minutes to write in their journals in response to the following question: Has someone else ever made an assumption about you because of some aspect of your identity? Was it a positive assumption or a negative one? How did you find out about the assumption? How did you respond?
2. Create a Concept Map for Stereotype
   Tell students that the assumptions we make about each other are sometimes based on stereotypes. Most middle- and high-school students have heard the word stereotype, but they might struggle to articulate a definition. Tell students that to help them reflect on their understanding of stereotype, they will create a concept map, a visual representation of the word, using words, phrases, questions, the space on the page, lines, and arrows. Later in the lesson, they will use their concept maps as a launching point to help them explore the relationship between stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Lead students through the steps of the Concept Map teaching strategy, first brainstorming words, phrases, and ideas that they associate with stereotypes and then organizing these around the word stereotype on a page of their journals. Have students share their concept maps using the Think, Pair, Share strategy. Invite them to revise their maps by adding new information they learned from their conversations that extends or challenges their thinking. You might then facilitate a discussion in which students share ideas from their maps for you to add to a class concept map that you hang in the room, refer back to, and modify over the course of the unit as their thinking about stereotyping develops.
3. Create a Working Definition for Stereotype
   Using the information on their concept maps and from their discussions, ask students to write a “working definition” of stereotype underneath their concept map. They will have the opportunity to share these working definitions with the class. Explain that a working definition is a less formal way of explaining what a word means—a definition that can change over time and might use less formal language. Tell students that they might expand, focus, or revise their working definitions as they learn more about the topic over the course of the unit. After students have drafted their own working definitions, ask volunteers to share their ideas to create a class working definition of stereotype, which you can then add to the class concept map. Explain the relationship between stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination, and ask students to add these terms to their concept maps. Then ask students to share their ideas about where they placed prejudice and discrimination and how they connected these to other concepts on their maps.
4. Reflect on the Role of Stereotypes in Daily Life and Society
   • Project or pass out Garry Trudeau’s cartoon Street Calculus and discuss students’ first impressions of the image by asking the following questions:
     • What’s happening in this image?
     • What do you notice about what each person is thinking in his thought bubble?
     • How are each of their thoughts similar? How are they different?
   • Next, analyze the cartoon more deeply by having students discuss the following questions:
     • Do you think the situation depicted here is realistic? Do people use “lists” like these to make judgments about each other?
     • How aware do you think people are of the lists they make? When someone sees you walking down the street, what lists might they make about you? What lists do you sometimes make about others?
     • How might these lists shape choices people make (beyond greeting each other)? What would it take to change the lists people make about each other?

   • Next, connect the discussion of Street Calculus to stereotyping by asking students to reflect in a class discussion or in their journals on the role that stereotypes play in our society and in their own experiences. Depending on time, one or more of the following questions can be used to guide this reflection and debrief:

     • Where do stereotypes come from?
     • What stereotypes do the two men in the cartoon have about the groups the other one belongs to?
     • When, if ever, can stereotypes be harmless or even helpful? When do stereotypes become harmful?
     • What does the cartoon suggest about how stereotypes might impact the way we see ourselves and the way we see others? How might stereotypes impact the choices we make?

Day Two

1. Watch a Video that Explains the Danger of “Single Stories”
   • If it was not part of the Day 1 discussion, introduce students to the idea that stereotypes are a type of story that we tell about individuals based on our beliefs (erroneous or accurate) about a group to which they belong. You might ask students to review their concept maps and journal responses in preparation for today’s lesson.
   • Tell students that today they will be exploring the relationship between storytelling and stereotyping, as well as what it means to have a “single story” of a person or group of people.
   • Pass out the handout The Danger of a Single Story Viewing/Reading Guide. Then show the video of Adichie’s TED Talk The Danger of a Single Story (18:43) or pass out and read aloud the reading The Danger of a Single Story. While viewing or reading, students should record their thoughts about the three questions posed on the guide.
   • Ask students to work with a partner to create an identity chart for Adichie. If your class watched the the video, you might consider passing out the reading version for students to reference during this activity. Students can refer to the identity charts they created in the previous lesson and the three viewing/reading questions to guide their thinking.
2. Discuss “Single Stories” in Concentric Circles
   • To debrief Adichie’s TED Talk, have students stand in two concentric circles, facing a partner in the opposite circle, and use the prompts below to begin the discussion. Rotate to a new partner for each new prompt.
     • What does Adichie mean by a “single story”? What examples does she give?
     • How did Adichie learn single stories about others? How did these stories impact her understanding of herself and of others? How did these single stories impact the choices she made at home and in her travels?
     • What enabled Adichie to change her single story? What are other ways for these types of stories to change?
     • According to Adichie, why can “single stories” be dangerous? What is the relationship between “single stories” and stereotypes?
     • Why is it that people sometimes make the same mistakes that they so easily see others making?
3. Write about the Connection between “Single Stories” and Stereotypes
   • After the concentric circle discussion, use the quotation below or one or more of the subsequent questions as a prompt to allow for individual student reflections in their journals. Encourage students to use their resources, such as their concept maps, working definitions, notes from today’s lesson, and identity charts, to help them make connections between “single stories” and stereotyping.
     • “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” (Adichie)
     • What single stories have you noticed that others have about you? What dilemmas have you experienced when others view you differently than you view yourself?
     • What single stories have you noticed that you hold about others? What dilemmas have you seen arise when we view others differently than they view themselves?
   • What steps can you take, or have you taken, to challenge these single stories? Lead the class in a discussion that allows students to share their ideas about the concentric circle questions and journal responses with the whole group.
4. Close the Discussion with a Wraparound Activity
   If time allows, tell the class that they will be sharing a concluding idea in a Wraparound activity. As you go around the room, students can share a memorable word or short phrase from the lesson. It could be something they wrote or something they heard from a classmate (or from The Danger of a Single Story).