The Civic Imagination Project

NUTS AND BOLTS

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Brief Description: In this activity participants re-tell well known stories to work though how differing points of view change the narrative.

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Recommended Age Range: 5+

 

Participants: 2-6 participants (or groups of 2-6 participants)

 

Duration: 30 minutes

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Materials Needed and Space Requirements:

• In Person: A pen and colored pencils can be enough. 

• Internet-Friendly Option: Synchronous video conferencing platform (Facetime, Zoom, Skype, etc).

 

Learning Opportunity: This activity taps popular culture to support perspective shifting and encourages participants to explore a situation from different vantage points.

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INSTRUCTIONS

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Identify

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Identify a familiar popular culture story (content world) that all participants know. Identify the protagonists in this story as it is represented in the source text. 

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Imagine

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Now, imagine what this story might look like from the point of view of other characters, who are not the protagonists. They could be the antagonists or the just other characters in the story. So, for example, imagine the story of Little Red Riding Hood as told from the point of view of the wolf or Goldilocks as told from the perspective of one of the bears or a bird looking in through the window. 

 

Some questions you might want to consider:

• How would the story change if it was told from this other character’s perspective?

• What might motivate this other character to take action and change the story? 

• How could the story become more fair if told from a different character’s point of view?

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Share

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Write/perform/draw/sculpt the story as told from the perspective of this other character. 

 

Discuss the ways this new narrative might change the ways you feel about the original author’s choices in terms of how to tell that story.

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Print out the printer friendly version of this activity and the toolkit here.

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