Minority Report

Activities

Day One

“White Privilege and Male Privilege.” 

This article by Peggy McIntosh looks as the “hidden biases” in society that are so subtle that most people of privilege don’t even know they exist.  I have the students read this article and then respond to it by listing other privileges of their race, gender, and one other status (religion, sexual orientation, physical features) in order to get them thinking about their status in society.  It is a heuristic device for additions to their papers.

During the discussion time for this article, students pull up their responses on their screens, and we do a “carousel” reading where we just rotate from computer to computer and read as many people’s responses as we can in a time limit (10 mins) and then discuss what we found surprising or interesting or something we hadn’t thought of before.  You could do the same with hard copies.

Day Two

Response to two articles in the “Multiculturalism and Diversity” section of Mercury Reader.  Students will read two articles and write a response of any kind.  It is a kind of reading check, it will also stimulate thinking for their essays (more heuristics), and it is another piece of writing to add to the portfolio.

During class, we'll do "Audience Invoked/Audience Addressed" as an activity.

Day Three

Pride Panel visit.  Contact ISU Pride at the Student Services Building for more information about setting up a discussion.  Activity:  Debrief after panel members speak.

Day Four

Rough draft due.  Activity:  Revisions in class.  Students exchange and respond to essays as usual.

Activity:  Teaching Tolerance assignment.  At the website teachingtolerance.org, there are a number of psychological tests for hidden biases.  This assignment is kind of for “fun” near the end of the unit.  Students go to the website and select a test on issues ranging from Native Americans to race and gender biases.  They take the test on their own and then write a reaction to them.  The reactions vary from “Wow, I didn’t know I was biased in that way” to “I don’t believe these tests are accurate/valid.”

Day Five

Activities:  Copy editing.

Write paper reflection/analysis.  I give a lot of suggestions of what students might discuss in their analysis for the essay.

Hand in papers by the end of the period.