Stop the Pandemic: Step 4: Listen To And Share Stories
Step 4: Listen to and Share Stories
You can click on any of the slides above to go to that Step.
4.1. Introduction to Step 4: Listen to and Share Stories
In Step 4, the objective is to further deepen our understanding of the impact of the pandemic by listening again to the stories of victims, survivors, and frontline workers. In Step 2, you explored the different points of view of these persons and groups. Now, in Step 4, our goal here is to understand the values that have helped them cope with and hopefully overcome these experiences.
We first introduce you to the eight Lift Every Voice Democratic Values (You may already know these if you have taken the Democratic Values Minicourse.) Having reviewed these values, we're asking you to think about which values were most important to the people in these stories and then you can share a pandemic related story of your own. It can be about something you or someone you know has experienced, or it can be a moving story you have heard or read. Again think about the value(s) embedded in your story and tell us why that value(s) was important to you.
Democratic and Academic Competencies
In this fourth step—listen to the related stories, you will have the opportunity to listen to the stories of survivors, witnesses, families and friends of victims, protestors, and concerned citizens. After listening to these stories you can tell your own story or a story you have heard about or read about related to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Academic Competencies to Apply in This Step 4:
Academic Vocabulary: Learn and use core Academic Vocabulary to tell and discuss stories related to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Oral Language Genre Skills: Learn how to tell personal stories related to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Democratic Competencies to Apply in This Step 4:
Democratic Values: Love and Freedom Values: Explore the values in theses stories and especially those related to love and freedom.
Social-Emotional Skills: Social Perspective Taking: Use second person perspective taking skills to listen to, empathize with, and comprehend the survivor stories and use first person perspective taking skills to tell your own story.
Social-Emotional Skills: Emotional Awareness: Use emotional awareness skills to express one's own feelings about the COVID-19 Pandemic and to be supportive of others than have been affected.
4.2. Introduction to Democratic Values
In this Step 4.2, we introduce you the Lift Every Voice Democratic Values. If you have already studied them in the Democratic Values Minicourse, you can skip over this Step. Just below is a slider that briefly presents the eight values and then after that there is a Sway that explains them in more depth. In Step 4.3, you will try to identify what values have been most important to helping people cope with and overcome this pandemic.
4.3. Listen to Their Stories Again
Storytelling is one of the most important ways we can remember and come to terms with our experiences. Listen again to the stories of these victims, survivors, and frontline workers. As you read and listen, try to identify what values have helped to guide people through this pandemic: love, freedom, equality, justice, truth, care for nature, peace, democracy or other values.
4.4. What Values Are Most Important to the Persons in These Stories?
After listening to these stories, what value(s) are most important to these persons? Share your thoughts and reasons in your Stop the Pandemic Project.
4.5. Share a Pandemic Story
After you have listened to the stories and thought about what values inspired these people, share a story of yours. It could be a story about you or someone your know, or it could be a story that you heard about that inspired you. Be sure to explain the value(s) that are embedded in your story. Be sure to respond to the stories of the other students.
4.6. Next Steps
In this Step, the objective is to develop empathy and understanding for the people directly and indirectly affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic. These stories tell us the real impact and personal costs of the COVID-19 Pandemic. They also tell us about the values that have these person survive or cope with the pandemic.
You need to keep these stories in mind as you begin to develop your own ideas about how to stop the pandemic.
What values are going to guide your proposal?
How would your proposal address the situation of the people you have been listening to in this step?
The next step is to listen to speeches and proposals of persons who are advocating ways to stop the pandemic.
After listening to a broad spectrum of approaches, then you will have the opportunity to develop, write down, and then present your own proposal(s) for stopping the pandemic.
Revised 3/21/2021.