Develop: Personal Narrative

Evaluation Title: Personal Narrative Different From Your Own

As we learned in Unit 1, one of the ways to help counter the dangers of single stories is to try to listen to people’s stories, and this week is devoted to understanding the viewpoint of another when in comparison to your own. While you will have a chance to create your own story as a final project in this class, this week you are being asked to research the personal narrative of someone’s who is different than yours. This personal narrative can be in the form of an article, a written story, or even a video. The library resources will be effective in starting your research for this project.

For this assignment, please complete the following requirements:

You will need to do research and find someone who has a different personal narrative than your own. This person does not have to be well known, but you will need to find a resource that allows you to discover substantial information about the individual’s life experience so you can compare and contrast it to you own.

Look to discover someone who has had a different life experience than your own. You will then need to compare and contrast what differences and similarities that you are able to identify in a written essay and address the following:

• What differences does this individual have in comparison to your own? How might these differences influence the perspectives or viewpoints this person might have? Do you see any similarities even though you both have had different experiences?
• What drew you to the person you choose for this assignment? Is there something unique that you identify with in their personal narrative? Why did you choose them?
• Are there any similarities that you can identify in comparison to your own personal narrative?
• What can you learn about your own personal narrative through the understanding of someone else’s?
• How does reading and analyzing these perspectives help you grow in your perspective of others? If readings these perspectives do not help you grow in this way, you are welcome to address reasons for this lack of growth instead.