Teaching with Diverse Stories

Shared by: Ron Davidson, Geography

What to do/ how to do it:

• Begin by finding stories from different parts of the world, or different cultural groups in the U.S. that correspond to the topic you are teaching about. For example, I assign a short story from each region we look at in my World Geography course. 
• Choose stories that offer a vivid depiction of the region, say something meaningful about cultural life there, and also help shed light on the topic you are teaching about.
• As an example, Chinua Achebe’s “Girls at War” complements what our textbook says about “Big Man” politics in unstable societies by suggesting how the same instability affects the average citizen. Or it could be used to teach about the history of the civil war in Nigeria. Perhaps even about political systems there.
• Then design a loosely structured class discussion to bring out, (with as much student help as possible), the points you want to make about the subject you are teaching. 
  • Start by reviewing the objective elements of story character and plot, which will get students thinking about the story and engage them.
  • Then ask leading questions so that the conversation turns to the key elements of the story that bring out the targeted concepts. 

Learning objectives/skills fostered:

This activity achieves the following objectives:  

a) helps break stereotypes about the subject that students typically acquire in K-12 classrooms and popular culture,

b) instills confidence in students who found might have found the content area assignments off-putting or difficult;

c) brings diverse representations of world regions and cultures into the class, and

d) throws light on the discipline in a more engaging manner. 

In repeatedly doing this activity, students should begin to recognize and feel comfortable with an expanded view of the discipline that encompasses the examination of fiction sources.  They should also gain knowledge in the specific topics targeted by the instructor in choosing the particular set of stories.

How/why is this a culturally relevant teaching practice or high impact teaching practice?

This activity brings diverse perspectives into the class.  These are the perspectives of the characters (and authors) of the stories, not the students’ own perspectives; however, the stories are chosen to incorporate diverse, engaging characters whose perspectives should engage students’ own feelings and attitudes. 

The stories ideally become a charged center of class discussion through which students’ perspectives are elucidated and expressed.  The perspectives address gaps in primary class content largely by dramatizing concepts that may seem dry or abstract when presented solely in the lecture or textbook.

As an example, in my World Geography class we often read Yukio Mishima’s short story “Patriotism”, in which a Japanese Imperial soldier and his wife commit ritual suicide as an honorable alternative to facing a particular dilemma.  I use the story to make vivid the idea of reality as a social construction and the Lacanian notion of “symbolic castration”.  (The protagonists are presented as ideal types who never shirk from or internally question the codes of conduct and standards behavior their society has ingrained within them, right through their grisly and agonizing suicides – with a twist, of course, that we discuss.) 

Students seem fully able to grasp the concepts stressed, for example by imagining that they would themselves hesitate, fear or resent being put in such a situation.  From there, they can apply the concept of social construction to aspects of their own lives. They begin to grapple with questions such as:  What “reality” has society constructed for you?  Do you accept it, question it, reject it?  Can you change it?  etc.

Learning challenge addressed:

The goal of this exercise is to help students empathize with and care about distant peoples and their cultures, consonant with our program learning outcome that “Students will be responsible global citizens”.   It also helps connect lecture and textbook content with students’ own lives. 

Context best used for:

Any level class

Materials needed:

A trustworthy supply of engaging short stories from relevant cultures/parts of the world. 

Tips for successfully implementing:

Pick the most engaging stories you can.