Diversity Plunge Assignment | Online Assignment

As you continue on the journey to becoming an anti-bias teacher, it is critical to address any stereotypes or prejudices you might have absorbed about others, examine what you have learned about differences, and reflect on what you enjoy or fear across lines of human diversity.

For this assignment, you will achieve the above goals through a diversity plunge. You will plunge into a new social identity of your choice in order to familiarize yourself with its similarities and differences in comparison to your own social identity. The experience must require you to step out of your comfort zone into a world you have never experienced before. You will begin to see life from someone else’s viewpoint.

Typically, this assignment would be conducted in the form of an activity you engage in, (e.g., use a wheelchair for a day, participate in a Buddhist ceremony, or check into a homeless shelter), an event or experience that you would not typically engage in. However, given the fact that we are under “stay at home orders”, I am replacing this requirement with an online investigation of the chosen identity.

So, let’s say after deep reflection and an honesty session with yourself, you realized that you have an unconscious bias towards homeless people. Your assignment is to investigate and gather as much information as you can, reading articles, watching videos, checking out organizations that serve and support this population, or zooming with a friend or relative who experienced this identity, in order to improve your knowledge about this identity.

At the completion of this exercise you will submit a three-five-page paper summarizing your experience. Your paper MUST address the following:

A thorough description of your research findings on the chosen identity.
The reason(s) behind your choice of identity.
How (if any) did your research impact your understanding of that identity?
Your assignment is worth (100) points. Your final grade will depend on your thoroughness in addressing the above three questions and how well your paper represents a college level work.