After watching the Ted Talk “The Danger of a Single Story,” I realized that I often had a single story of people from different cultures. Growing up in a predominantly Hispanic community, I was not exposed to diversity. It was until I left my hometown to attend college that I realized that there was more to people than their stereotypes. Unfortunately, I was also on the other end, people also had a single story on what it meant to be Mexican-American. I often heard classmates say, you do not look Mexican, you do not dress like other Mexicans, and you do not act Mexican. I do not believe that any of my classmates had any bad intentions in expressing that, however, it made me think that many had a fixed stereotype. When people made comments in regards to my ethnic background I did not pay much attention back then because I did not know what to say or how to react.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie stated that reading African books saved her from a single story. She got to see a different story, not the one being told by westerners about Africans but the one being told by different writers from various African countries. It is easy to focus on a single story, however, it is not until we are exposed to a different story through distance or experiential learning that we gain a new perspective and discover a new world. I have to admit that I too had a single story about African countries. Based on articles I read in my history classes, I only knew that African people were suffering due to civil wars, warlords, poverty, hunger and the aids epidemic. In 2010 something happened that changed all of that. Prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, I started learning more about South Africa. I saw video clips from different news and sports channels of South Africans playing music, cooking different types of food, celebrating their traditions and proud to show off their rich South African culture to the world. Of course, not every African country is as wealthy as South Africa but it changed my perspective about the people from Africa. When we are only exposed to a single story, that is the only story we are going to believe. Like Chimammada Ngozi Adichie said in her TED Talk we must “Reject a single story and regain paradise”. Adichie, C. N. (2009). The Danger of a Single Story :TED Talks. Retrieved May 08, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg After reading the book, Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon, I appreciate the advice he has to offer. I have to admit that I am very scared to share my work because I am afraid that people might judge me and have bad things to say. This does not only happen online but in my classes as well. The problem with sharing my work online is that once I share it, it is there forever. In my classes, I can hope that as time goes by people will forget about what I said. Thankfully, Austin Kleon has great advice on how to handle bad criticism and how to focus on the positive comments that will encourage users to share their work. It is a normal human characteristic for people to want to feel loved and accepted, which is why negative comments hurt and discourage anyone that is putting themselves out there. When you share your work you are very vulnerable, however, we must not allow that fear to outweigh the benefits of positive feedback. When we let fears overtake our desire to share out work we also miss the opportunity to collaborate and learn from others. I keep thinking that group work has to be done face to face where work happens instantly. However, online groups have a great advantage because it allows people from around the globe to be part of a learning community in which instant feedback and ideas are shared and communicated. In addition, the author also suggests not worrying if what we share is not perfect. I wish I could have known this when I was sharing my 20% project videos. During the project, I erased and did not share any videos of me falling or not being able to stay on my bike. What I did like about my 20% project was that I was an amateur. I did not care what other riders thought because I was learning along the way. Austin Kleon also recommends sharing what you love. If people are terrified of sharing their work like I am, sharing what you like will get you in the habit of simply sharing. People can also share what others like. Hopefully, this will have the end result of being comfortable sharing our own work. Chances are that someone around the globe likes what you are doing. By simply sharing you give others the opportunity to learn along with you. I clearly see the benefits of people sharing their work especially for people creating a product. Finally, sharing your work allows people to finance their next project which is something that I had never thought about before. This made me think about the website etsy.com and how popular it is nowadays. Etsy is a perfect example of the benefits of sharing our work because it allows individuals to create unique items and share them with people from around the world. As teachers, we are also creators of masterpieces that turn into great lessons and engaging activities in the classroom so let the fears disappear and lets share our work.
Kleon, A. (2014). Show your work!: 10 ways to share your creativity and get discovered. New York, NY: Workman Publishing. |
AuthorI am a Social Science Teacher Candidate at CSUSM. Archives
May 2016
Categories |