Identifying Dominant + Creating Counter Narratives

This lesson plan is part of the Resource Guide Connecting Through Time: Intergenerational & Family Storytelling, a Photoville and PhotoWings collaboration developed at the onset of COVID-19 to support intergenerational storytelling through photography.nnStudents explore how dominant narratives about their community are created and reinforced through web searches, algorithms, history textbooks, and media. After identifying what the dominant narratives are regarding their community, students interrupt and speak back to the dominant narrative by creating their own counter narratives.nnThis lesson is best taught once students have discussed an awareness of identity, how we carry intersecting identities, and how our identities affect the way we navigate the world u2014 including race, ethnicity, class, gender, religion, sexuality, ability, and more.nnAuthor: Wendy Barrales u00b7 Materials: internet access, paper, pen, post-its u00b7 Time: 3u20135 sessions u00b7 Age range: middle and high school.

• Identify dominant narratives about oneu2019s community
• Critique web searches, algorithms, textbooks, and media as narrative-shaping sources
• Create counter-narrative visual projects