11.2.4: Assignments and Activities

Chapter 2 Assignments and Activities

The prompts on this page are ideas for interactive assignments and/or activities used to extend learning from this chapter. These can be used to further understanding, retention, and ownership of learner content.

Two Census Questions

Students will have an opportunity to explore how they identify racially and ethnically by reviewing the two census questions as seen in Figure 2.1.2. Take a few moments to review and respond to questions 6 and 7 on the U.S. census. When you are finished, think about why you made the selections you did. 

• Do the options provided reflect how you self-identify? 
• Would you change anything about the categorizations or the labels? 
• How does this form compare to others that have asked for your race and ethnicity, such as school documents, employment applications, and medical forms?

Wheel of Power/Privilege 

Students will be given an opportunity to build on the “Two Census Questions” activity by applying an intersectional analysis to their own lives by considering how power structures (ideologies, discourses, institutions, systems) shape their particular subject position, access to resources, experiences, and life outcomes. An option is to have students complete this activity before reading Chapter 2: Identities and then revisit it after reading the chapter to determine how their knowledge deepened as a result of completing the reading. 

1. To prepare for this activity, print copies of the “Wheel of Power/Privilege” by Sylvia Duckworth (Figure 2.1) and distribute them in class or have students in online sections download the digital version. There may be additional social identity categories not listed in the image that you may want to add or come up with additional categories with students.  

2. Ask students to reflect on the ways they identify within each social identity category and circle the label closest to their identity or experience for each, understanding that the labels they use may not be provided exactly in the wheel. Students can write in another label and determine its placement. Students should also think about which of these categories are most salient to their everyday lives and highlight them. They should also think about which categories/identities are less salient and why. 

3. After completing this activity, students can journal independently or form small groups to discuss where their identities lie. Where do they experience marginalization and where do they experience privilege? Which social identity intersections produce particular experiences? Consider how privilege is cemented for a select few through the creation and maintenance of hierarchical social identity categories across time and place and the ways that marginalized communities have resisted their oppressors' classifications. Students should be given an opportunity to draw from their own experiences and make personal connections to Chapter 2: Identities.