How Stories and Civil Dialogue Help Young People Overcome Differences
Ask students: Who co-founded the organization to help young people around the world share their stories and perhaps bridge divides of politics and culture?
Colum McCann's Narrative 4 organization is bringing the power of story to students in a time of division. The project helps young people around the world share their stories and bridge divides in politics and culture. Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown reports for our series, Art in Action, exploring the intersection of art and democracy, as part of our CANVAS coverage.
View the transcript of the story.
Discussion Questions
- Who co-founded the organization to help young people around the world share their stories and perhaps bridge divides of politics and culture?
- What is the point of the story exchange initiative?
- Where is the story exchange program being piloted?
- When was Narrative 4 founded?
- How does this initiative allow us to step outside of ourselves to see a different perspective?
Focus Questions
- With Narrative 4 spearheading the story exchange initiative, what would your version of an empathy-building exercise look like?
- Media literacy: As consumers of media, are you able recognize when sources are simply informing or swaying you to a specific narrative?
Extension Activity
- Look into your school's involvement with organizations like Narrative 4. If no partnership exists, consider advocating for a program that achieves similar objectives.
- Collaborate with your school to spotlight a wall where students are able to share - anonymously or openly - experiences that might otherwise not be at the forefront of conversations.
- Watch this PBS NewsHour segment with Paul Solman that looks at multiple efforts to bridge major political and cultural fissures in the U.S., beginning with smaller steps forward. Learn about Solman's American Exchange Project, a domestic foreign exchange program for high school seniors based on the underlying principle of coming together and overcoming stereotypes.
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Republished with permission from PBS News Hour Classroom.
PBS News Hour Classroom helps teachers and students identify the who, what, where and why-it-matters of the major national and international news stories. The site combines the best of News Hour's reliable, trustworthy news program with lesson plans developed specifically for... See More
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