The Single Story

I have once again, for the third year in a row, embarked upon The Single Story. This two day lesson is a product of my summer spent with the Capital District Writing Project. Each year, a layer has been added based on what I've learned from previous years and new experienced I've had. This year, it begins with some journaling and then will move to the Chromebooks.

It is my hope that you might use this lesson as a guide. If you are an educator reading this, please feel free to use this lesson plan exactly or take it and change it to meet the needs of your learners. Please comment or email me any changes you make so that I might learn from those experiences.


It starts with the first prompt wherein my students receive three minutes to journal a "sound off". I told them to sound off in English about anything on their minds, anything bothering them, anything they're looking forward to- anything swimming around in their head. I told them to swear if they needed to and if they don't want me to read it later, to color it over in black crayon or marker. Then I asked them to set those things aside and bring their full attention and thought to our work today.



My lesson this year is inspired by another book and builds upon the work we've already done with the Special Paper Lesson and The Sneetches. The book that I'm using to start our conversation is The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt. I loved this book the first time I read it and then started thinking more deeply about how it demonstrates the limits we put on our own thinking and how that relates to culture and stereotypes. Students brainstorm what they associate with the twelve colors of crayons before comparing their lists and hearing what other people associate with those colors.

In the book, the little boy's crayons decide to quit because they are tired of being pigeon-holed into the same things every day. In the end of the book, he decides to take the crayons' protests and draws a new picture that takes all their suggestions and frustrations into account.

Prompt 1: Based on this picture, write about all the ways in which the picture violates the color association rules you and your classmates discussed.

After the students responded to this prompt and ample time to view the picture and think about it, I read the story to them. The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt.

Prompt 2: In what day did the crayons feel limited by Duncan's single stories of what each color represented?

Prompt 3 is based off a movie the students just watched. After we read The Sneetches, we watched the movie Spanglish, which I highly recommend. This is a movie about Flor, an illegal Mexican immigrant who begins to work at the Clasky's house as their maid and nanny. The movie is touching and demonstrates a lot of cultural misunderstandings and linguistic miscommunications. We watched the movie and students are responding to questions about the film. (These are the questions.)

Prompt 3: What single stories or preconceptions did the Clasky's have of Flor before she started working? OR what single stories of upperclass white families did the movie show?

Prompt 4: In what ways do we as humans treat each other like the star-bellied Sneetches treated the plain-bellied sneetches? How do we treat each other at the mall, in school, in society, in television, in government... anywhere- think about how we treat people like plain-bellied sneetches. Why do you think we do this to each other?

Before prompt 5, students are asked to read an article about the Asú, a tribe that lives in the heart of the Latin American jungle. The article can be found here and is something I wrote. I remember reading an article similar to it when I was in high school and when I couldn't find the article, I decided to write it myself. The students read the article and then are given prompt 5.

Prompt 5: Take a few moments to jot down your thoughts and reactions to the article. You may wish to consider the questions at the bottom of the article for inspiration.

Prompt 6: What single stories do you have of the Asú? What questions would you want to ask to understand them better?

Prompt 7: Nigeria. What single stories do you have of Nigeria and the people of Nigera? How do they live? What do they have? What language do they speak? Describe what you imagine daily life is like.

We then watched until 6:34 of Chimananda's TED talk that can be found here.

Prompt 8: Of what other groups of people do you have single stories? Make a list of other single stories you possess and what those single stories are. Do you share an experience with Chimamanda? Have you ever encountered someone who had a single story of you based on your race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, address, resources, family situation or activity in which you are involved?

We then watched until 9:37 of Chimananda's TED talk that can be found here.

It is important to note that this lesson is usually done over two days for my classes and that it's necessary to get their minds back in the swing of things with a little writing when the next class starts. This year, I asked the students to journal about their favorite things about winter to focus them a little. Then asked what stuck out in their mind from the previous class and about what Chimananda was speaking.

Prompt 9: We've talked a lot about how the media plays a large role in the single stories. Take time to think about the TV shows you watch, movies you enjoy, videogames you play, books you read... what single stories of what people or places does the media show over and over? What single stories are our children shown over and over?

We then watched until 11:50 of Chimananda's TED talk that can be found here.

Prompt 10: What things do you learn about in school of which you are given a single story? Who decides what story you will be told about various countries or people?

We finished the rest of her speech.

Prompt 11: Write about what's going on in your mind. Collect your thoughts about single stories and how we can "regain paradise" by abolishing single stories. What did she mean by that?

Prompt 12: Think of things in your life, things you've learned about, people you know or groups of people with whom you've had contact. What is one thing of which you think you may have a single story? What can you do to get many stories about that thing? So you no longer have a single story?

Prompt 13: Why is completing single stories important? Why is questioning what stories you are told and why equally important?

I use the concept of the single story to frame other conversations in class throughout the year. In fact, last year, I had the students writing bilingually about single stories people have of them. It was a self-exploration piece.

It is my hope that these detailed lessons might give someone what CDWP gave me: a way to start these conversations with students and the power to know I can.