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4.4
Identities & Issues Intersections
Submitted by Janice McMillan & Shannon Wheatley Hartman
This activity opens up complex thinking; it helps participants to understand issues of prejudice and stereotypes, and it also helps them to find ways of coming to consensus on issues that affect them.
Learning Goal
Examine how our views are shaped by many factors including the media, family, religion, class, racial and ethnic identities, etc.
Instructions
Set Up: Prepare for the Activity
Share the challenge shown below on a board, flipchart or shared document. Replace the issue mentioned with a pressing concern for your group.
Organize participants into pairs or small groups (3-4 ppl).
Begin by introducing the learning goals of this activity.
Step One: Review Challenge and Generate Characteristics (10 min)
Read the following challenge, or the modified version you created, to the group:
You have been asked to pull together a task team to communicate about Affordable Housing in your community. The task team needs to come up with ideas about how to build community cohesion and community interest around the topic of Affordable Housing.
Your group needs to select 8 people to join this team. As a group generate a list of characteristics that you would like team members to have (collectively or individually).
In small groups, invite participants to create a list of characteristics of ideal team members. Prompt:
What characteristics are we looking for in team members? You might want to frame this list as, “Someone who can….”
Generate a broad list. Don’t analyze or discuss the list, yet. Generate as many characteristics of ideal team members as you can.
Step Two: Rank Characteristics (10 min)
Invite participants to now individually review the list and select the top 10 characteristics of ideal team members.
Next, ask participants to compare their individual rankings and discuss with their group the criteria they each used. Ask them to discuss which characteristics are important for all team members and which ones are unique and are selected to improve the overall group dynamic.
Step Three: Create a Call for Volunteers (10 min)
As a group, ask them to decide on the top criteria for their team and draft a call for volunteers. Remind them to be specific about what they are looking for in team members.
Step Four: Share Descriptions with the Full Group (10 min)
Invite a representative from each small group to read their call for volunteers. While they are reading the description, ask other participants to listen for specific criteria.
Invite a pair of participants to record or capture criteria on the board, flip chart or shared document.
Step Five: Debrief as a Full Group (10 min)
Where is there consistent overlap? Why?
Are there any outliers? Why were these criteria chosen?
How important are diverse perspectives when dealing with complex issues? When might it be a hindrance? When might it be a benefit?
How would this description be different if it were a paid position? Nominated position?
As we look at our criteria, what sort of people do we think would be selected to the team? Who might be included? Excluded? Who is missing now that we are looking at this together and collectively?
TIME
50
min
MODULE
Culturally Responsive Collaboration
This activity can be completed by any discussion group.
This activity can be easily modified for asynchronous learning. See Sample Asynchronous Certificate Program Design to illustrate sample sequencing.
This activity is suitable for professional or more formal learning environments.
Tell us what you think. Rate and review this activity:
Have any helpful suggestions or modifications for this activity?
Share them in the comments below!
0 Comments
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 7:01:33 PM
Another all time favorite. I really recommend this activity when you are trying to think about the complexity of a social topic and who/what is impacted by it. It pairs well with the Divergent Thinking/Surround the Topic activity. This activity also includes a really helpful worksheet for capturing types of stakeholders.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:59:07 PM
I really like this activity. It is a fun way to figure out what matters most to us as a group. For example, if you need to figure out the theme for a discussion series or a topic for a group project, try out this activity. It helps participants to reflect on their own civic passion but also negotiate together the civic passions of the group. It could be paired with the value activities in Module One.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:54:13 PM
I the process in this activity ("surround the topic") a lot. It is particularly useful as facilitation preparation. It also helps with generative thinking.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:52:01 PM
This is an all time favorite. Use it as a warm-up activity or whenever you have a group that feels stuck and can't think of new ways of engaging a topic or problem.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:49:22 PM
Similar to the previous activity (1.7 Taking Inventory of CD Skills), this activity includes a google survey that participants can complete at the beginning of a program or class. Instructors or facilitators can use this information to then tailor future activities to best fits the discussion needs of their group.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:46:46 PM
Use this as pre-class or pre-workshop preparation! These self-evaluations will help teachers or facilitators to better understand the starting point of each participant and an aggregate view of the group. The survey results are shared only with the instructor/facilitator. This is a really helpful resource (and you can modify the survey to fit your needs).
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:43:42 PM
This activity and the previous (1.5 Understanding Values) are great for difficult conversations. I would use this as the prep work before diving into potentially tricky conversations. It helps participants to look for the values that inform opinions (and not just dismiss ideas that they don't like).
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:41:01 PM
This is also known as "Identity Pie." It's a great warm up and way for participants to get to know one another. I would use this early in a group setting to help build connection.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:39:24 PM
I think we all know that creating guidelines is important. I introduce activity 1.1 What is Collaborative Learning? first and then use the positive and negative attributes that they generate to help form our group guidelines.
Shannon Wheatley Hartman
December 7, 2022 at 6:36:43 PM
I always recommend that folks start off with this activity and pair it with 1.3 Creating Guidelines. It is a great way to set the tone and emphasize the importance of collaborative discussion.