Lesson Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students should be able to demonstrate an understanding of dominant narratives in society and how counter narratives can create space for underrepresented voices. This lesson is designed to introduce students to the ideas of dominant narratives and counter narratives; this could be a first lesson in a sequence in which students are ultimately asked to create their own counter narratives.
Materials Needed
- Projector/screen
- Device to project to screen
- Internet connection
Pre-class student work:
- Students should watch and create notes about the video “Lydia Heberling on How Reading Multimodal Literature Can Support Indigenous Sovereignty” (~21 minutes) before class.
Lesson Plan (45 minutes)
Warm Up: Classroom Scattergories (10 minutes)
Description
Put students into small groups (3-4 students per group works well).
Briefly explain the game Scattergories (There is a video about how to place Scattergories here.)
Ask each group to work together to make a list of key take-aways or ideas from the homework video.
Ask each group to share, going around the class to see if any other groups have the same take-away. If there are duplicates, no team gets a point; if a group comes up with a take-away that no one else has, that group gets a point.
Rationale
This is a fun and low-stakes way for students to work collaboratively to recall and associate with key ideas from the video.
Introduce Dominant Narratives (10 minutes)
Description
Ask students to individually think about perceptions and feelings they have about the following questions:
What surprised you about this video?
Why was that part surprising?
Ask students to share in their small groups.
Ask each group to have one person share the key points of their discussion with the class.
Introduce students to the idea of dominant narratives in society. Ideally, one of the ideas that has been brought up during the warm up or the individual free write can be connected to a dominant narrative about Indigenous Peoples.
Rationale
Asking students to identify what surprised them is an indirect way to get them to associate with the power and embedded nature of dominant narratives.
Asking them to free write before talking in a small group is a low-stakes and personal way for students to think about these issues without being put on the spot.
Small-group Discussion: Identifying Dominant and Counter Narratives (15 minutes)
Description
Show this clip (4:45-7:45) from Lydia Heberling’s video.
Ask student groups to discuss the following questions:
Dominant Narrative Questions
What dominant narratives are being disrupted in this video?
How?
What assumptions are being interrupted by this video?
Why, do you think, do these dominant narratives have power?
Counter Narrative Questions
What counter narratives are described in this video?
Who do these narratives benefit?
How do these narratives interrupt dominant narratives?
What is the purpose of this video?
Rationale
This specific clip explores several ways that dominant narratives are countered, from language ideologies, hierarchies of text, storytelling, and Indigenous sovereignty.
All-class Discussion (10 minutes)
Description
Ask a volunteer from each group to share key points from their discussion about dominant narratives.
Ask a volunteer from each group to share their discussion about counter narratives.
Rationale
This wrap-up could lead to a lesson dedicated specifically to counter narratives, especially those brought up in later parts of Lydia Heberling’s video.