what is the danger of a single story?

Welcome to the first book study in our Great Stories Book Club series! This series has been made possible by a grant from the American Library Association and is being taught in partnership with the Buena Vista Public Library. The theme of this book club series is empathy: what is it, and why is it important? 

We're jumping into the series by reading All-American Boys, which addresses the issue of police brutality in our contemporary society. The book study will begin with a module, and then students will continue to read and complete work independently through Reading and Writing. We'll come back together a few times after this module to catch up, share reactions to the reading, and engage in a final discussion about the story, the concept of empathy... and the danger of a single story.

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essential questions

• Why is it important to engage with a local library?
• How can we add depth to discussions?

goals

• Students will understand that local libraries are an incredible wealth of resources - from access to free books, to the use of the internet, to a staff ready to help with any question, to comfortable chairs for reading in peace.
• Students will understand that discussions can be meaningful and deep when participants listen to each other, respond instead of reacting, and draw from specific experiences and textual evidence.

activities

INTRODUCE

• Watch and discuss 'The Danger of a Single Story', a TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Review syllabus and expectations for the week

EXPOSE

• Look up and discuss recent stories of police brutality. 
  • Do patterns emerge in these accounts?
  • Are these stories getting more common or just more publicized?
  • Is there a single story being told with the reporting on these stories?
• Participate in orientation to Buena Vista Public Library (Tuesday)
  • Sign up for a library card
• Read! Aim to finish reading through p. 82

PRACTICE

• Discuss reading with specific topics:
  • Rashad vs. Quinn character analyses
  • Instances of empathy (or lack thereof)

CREATE

• Participate in verbal reading journal
  • Informative: compile a group summary of what has been read so far
  • Persuasive: Choose one of the persuasive questions and find a quote to back up your response
  • Narrative: Debrief reading experience

REFLECT

• Conference with Christine one-on-one about the week and your impressions of the book so far
• Complete module survey

c-tachs

Reading

• Cite strong textual evidence to support analysis of explicit and implicit meaning of text
• Analyze author’s stylistic choices regarding structure and development of the elements of a story, particularly theme

Speaking and Listening 

• Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions
• Present information, findings and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective
  

resources

All-American Boys syllabus
"The Danger of a Single Story" TED talk
​All-American Boys audiobook