The Danger of a Single Story

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. How do stereotypes influence our understanding of and interactions with other people? Is it possible to hold a stereotype about someone and appreciate them as an individual at the same time?

Teaching Suggestion: Consider organizing students into small groups to discuss the question. Direct students to brainstorm groups of people who are often stereotyped. You may choose to provide ideas, such as teenagers, retired people, genders, socioeconomic status, etc. Prompt students to consider what each group is stereotyped for and how those stereotypes influence our impressions and understanding of people.

• “How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do” is an 8-minute video narrated by social psychologist Claude Steele and posted by Facing History & Ourselves. It includes examples of how stereotypes affect student test performance.
• “How Students Experience and Cope With Racist Stereotypes,” posted by PBS Newshour, includes personal interviews with students discussing the impact of stereotypes on their own lives.

2. How should we respond when witnessing acts of stereotyping, bias, or prejudice? What can make it difficult to respond in the way we believe is right?

Teaching Suggestion: You might ask students to write or journal about what makes responding to stereotyping difficult. After writing, students might form pairs and exchange their thoughts. Depending on whether you think your students would feel comfortable discussing these ideas with the whole class, you might ask volunteers to share their thinking.

• “Speak Up at School: How to Respond to Everyday Prejudice, Bias and Stereotypes” is a PDF published by Learning for Justice (formerly Teaching Tolerance). The guide offers practical information and steps for both teachers and students.
• “What Can You Do Against Prejudice?,” produced by the Anne Frank House, offers a 6-minute video of short interviews with young people about their experiences responding to prejudice. Subtitles are available in English, Spanish, and German.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who would benefit from a more focused and supported reading assignment, you might direct them to the section of “Speak Up at School” titled “Basic Strategies” and divide the response steps among small groups of students. Each group reads and discusses their assigned section and then reports back to the class about the strategy.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the text.

Imagine a scenario in which you are witness to an act of stereotyping, bias, or prejudice. Write a dialogue script in which you respond to the event. Try to be realistic about what you and the other people involved might say.

Teaching Suggestion: You might begin this activity by brainstorming as a class a list of scenarios students encounter in real life. Then you might practice writing a response together as a model. Students can be supported with the phrasing and sentence stems provided by the National Equity Project.

• “Responding to Microaggressions and Unconscious Bias” from the National Equity Project offers suggested strategies and responses.