Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi's TED Talk about "The Danger of a Single Story" was enlightening and so true. Many of us have perspectives about people based on one or two stories we hear that many times are the same "single story." If that is all you ever hear about a people or culture, what elso do you have to believe. This is so important to understand in an education environment where we are choosing materials to use to support curriculum or in some cases the curriculum itself. As soon as she started talking I immediately began thinking of the typical English curriculum which usually involved the "old dead white guys" we usually hear about with not much real diversity in the authors or stories being read. Fortunately this is something that is starting to be addressed in schools to offer up a more diverse group of works with many different stories.
As a teacher in the social science subject matter, this is also very important to bring in resources that show a variety in people and cultures so that students do not just have one perspective to go off of. If one side of a story is all you ever hear it will shape your perspective and biases without ever really having an opportunity to make informed decisions about what is really occurring in the world. It doesn't help that our media tends to like and focus on items that are sensational which usually revolve around poverty, drugs and violence.
My Instagram project tells different aspects of my story although it may be slightly single sided. While I look like a great dad, and hope I am and strive to be, I could have included images of me planning lessons or doing homework leaving my wife to take care of the babies solo. I have had to shirk some of my duties in order to keep up with the demands of this program. I am not perfect. Perhaps if my wife told a story of me during this process it would focus on another aspect of our lives. I could also tell the story of the quality of my work. Perhaps it is not where I would like it to be in all aspects of my life. When I'm being a dad and husband, I feel I'm taking time away from my duties as a student and teacher. When I'm being a student, I'm not focusing on being a dad or teacher and so on. So there are many possible sides to my story, but this is what I chose to share.
As a teacher in the social science subject matter, this is also very important to bring in resources that show a variety in people and cultures so that students do not just have one perspective to go off of. If one side of a story is all you ever hear it will shape your perspective and biases without ever really having an opportunity to make informed decisions about what is really occurring in the world. It doesn't help that our media tends to like and focus on items that are sensational which usually revolve around poverty, drugs and violence.
My Instagram project tells different aspects of my story although it may be slightly single sided. While I look like a great dad, and hope I am and strive to be, I could have included images of me planning lessons or doing homework leaving my wife to take care of the babies solo. I have had to shirk some of my duties in order to keep up with the demands of this program. I am not perfect. Perhaps if my wife told a story of me during this process it would focus on another aspect of our lives. I could also tell the story of the quality of my work. Perhaps it is not where I would like it to be in all aspects of my life. When I'm being a dad and husband, I feel I'm taking time away from my duties as a student and teacher. When I'm being a student, I'm not focusing on being a dad or teacher and so on. So there are many possible sides to my story, but this is what I chose to share.