This lesson starts with reading the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Throughout each section of the book students are developing their own sense of personal racial consciousness and working together to understand how institutional racism works in our current healthcare system. The culminating project is a peer reviewed paper written to propose solutions to the racism that is seen in healthcare.
Race, Racism, Healthcare, Henrietta Lacks, Personal Work, Genetics
This lesson is a semester long module where students are reading the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot and participating in discussion diving into their personal racial consciousness and how both relate to institutional racism in healthcare.
This lesson is something that I have previously taught will students in my Genetics and Biotechnology course. This class is a mix of sophomores, juniors and seniors who collectively say they want to go into the healthcare field post high school. I believe as a teacher we are not only here to teach kids the content standards but to produce productive members of society. In this belief from the quantitative and qualitative data about our country as a whole and Dane County, WI where I live and teach racism is alive and well. I would not feel as though I am doing my job as an educator if I was not asking my students to think about who they are on a racial level and how that fits into a wider scope of the United States and the World. Previously this has been a one hundred percent in-person class discussion. I am interested to see the growth of kids by doing this in a hybrid model with online modules and then class discussions. My classes are 87 minutes long and I currently feel like we just scratch the surface in a discussion and I am always trying to pull in alternative perspectives for kids to hear first hand how people live who do not look like them. If the student does more of the individual work before the discussion happens it will leave more time for good whole class discussion.
a. Students will grow their personal racial consciousness and are able to have a discussion while naming their race and personal journey with race.
b. Students can define institutional racism and use critical thinking to design a solution to current institutional racism.
c. Students will read a nonfiction novel in their science content class.
The strudent outcomes are as follows with some extension for the teacher
Student Outcomes | Teacher Instruction |
a. Students will grow their personal racial consciousness and are able to have a discussion while naming their race and personal journey with race. |
Students will be working together to have a collaborative experience and support in developing their racial consciousness |
b. Students can define institutional racism and use critical thinking to design a solution to current institutional racism. | This is a little easier in that they are defining institutional racism but then will work to use this definition to design solutions |
c. Students will read a nonfiction novel in their science content class. | Kids may complain about this but it is good for them to have experience reading and working with a non-fiction text and reading outside of a language arts course. |
Below are some commen misconceptions that you may face.
a. Misconception: Many students have grown up in a colorblind world where talking about race is participating in racism.
b. Misconception: Many students (especially white students) believe that institutional racism is something of the past and that especially in healthcare it does not exist any more. Many students will also give the idea that it doesn’t exist where we live in WI because racism is a southern problem.
Module Timing
Introduction: 45 minutes in class
Lesson 1: 4-6 weeks between Introduction Lesson and Discussion 1
Discussion 1: 87 minutes in class
Lesson 2: 4-6 weeks between Discussion 1 and Discussion 2
Discussion 2: 87 minutes in class
Lesson 3: 4-6 weeks between Discussion 2 and Discussion 3
Discussion 3: 87 minutes in class
Part 1 of the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is titled Life, between now and the scheduled Discussion #1 you will need to read this portion of the book and answer the reading guide questions attached.
Along with reading you will be doing work related to your own personal racial conciousness. Then relating the book and personal growth to institutional racism in healthcare. You will do this work in the form of disucssions and updates as you work through this module.
This section gives students the assignment of reading Part 1 of the book and gives the guided reading questions. These questions have been written my Rebecca Skoot the author and I have pared them down to just 1-2 question per chapter that I feel really captures the essence of that chapter and has kids thinking about the science going on in the book and the racism/healthcare themes.
Citation for the Chapter Questions: Skloot , R. (n.d.). The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Teacher's Guide . Retrieved February 23, 2020, from http://rebeccaskloot.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/RHSklootTeachersGuideLORES.pdf
Racial Identity - Who am I and how do that affect the quality of my healthcare.
Read the following essay by Mitalia Perkins titled Magic Carpet.
When finished reading the short story:
2. Create an Update: Do you have a "magic carpet" that you and only a few others share? What are the qualities of that "magic carpet"? With whom do you share it? What would enable you to share this secret part of your identity with more people?
This update has the purpose of getting kids to start thinking about their differences as an asset and that they are all valuable and have something to offer the class, our community and society as a whole.
As a teacher it can be difficult to start conversations about race and racism. If you are struggling with where to start I highly suggest the below article from the Anti-defamation League.
My Identity : Race is made up of Skin Color, Culture, and Consciousness
Comment thinking about your different identities and how they have affected your day to day life?
Racial Identity___________________________________
Ethnic Identity ___________________________________
How have these identities affected your day to day life?
Preparing for this lesson as an educator you must know yourself first. I highly recommend watching the video and responding to the comment prompt first as a model for the students and it shows the students taht you are open and willing to go deep into these uncomfortable conversations.
Today is our first dicussion we will be discussing the following prompts in three different ways
This small to big format is for you to feel increasingly confident in bringing your voice to our space and conversation.
Discussion Prompts
What do you think of the following quote and how does it relate to our current healthcare system?
Like many doctors of his era, TeLinde often used patients from the public wards for research, usually without their knowledge. Many scientists believed that since patients were treated for free in the public wards, it was fair to use them as research subjects as a form of payment. (30)
Healthcare Conversation
- How did Henrietta Lacks’ racial identity affect the healthcare that she received?
- Have you ever been aware of your racial identity in a healthcare situation?
- Can you think of a time when your racial identity could have affected the healthcare that you received?
- Have you ever had a conversation with your parents, guardians or trusted adult about how to talk to doctors and nurses?
React to this statement: I can choose bandages in “flesh” color and have them more or less match my skin.
Often True-Sometimes True -Seldom True
How do you feel?
1 ----------------------------------------------------------5-------------------------------------------------------10
Same Questioning Earth Shattering
Explain why you chose your number.
This will be the first in person conversation, be prepared for this discussion to be a little bit difficult. The prompts start centered on the book and story and then move into conversations about the personal work that the kids have been doing. In my courses we have already done work on group norms for dicussions but before starting if you have not done this in your class you need to set parameters for difficult conversations.
I recommend leaning into the four agreements from the Pacific Education Group:
1. Stay engaged
2. Experience discomfort
3. Speak your truth
4. Expect and accept non-closure
When I facilitate these discussions I try my hardest to stay out of the conversation and allow the students to have a safe conversation together as peers. I do also highly recommend that if you do not have a diverse group of students to seek out the alternative perspective and bring them into the classroom through any means possible.
Part 2 of the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is titled Death, between now and the scheduled Discussion #2 you will need to read this portion of the book and answer the reading guide questions attached.
Along with reading you will be doing work related to your own personal racial conciousness. Then relating the book and personal growth to institutional racism in healthcare. You will do this work in the form of disucssions and updates as you work through this module.
This section gives students the assignment of reading Part 2 of the book and gives the guided reading questions. These questions have been written my Rebecca Skoot the author and I have pared them down to just 1-2 question per chapter that I feel really captures the essence of that chapter and has kids thinking about the science going on in the book and the racism/healthcare themes.
Citation for the Chapter Questions: Skloot , R. (n.d.). The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Teacher's Guide . Retrieved February 23, 2020, from http://rebeccaskloot.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/RHSklootTeachersGuideLORES.pdf
Experiences with Race and Racism
Now that we have defined your race let's start to think about your experiences with race and racism.
First watch the following videos put together by the New York Times "A Conversation About Race" Series.
Create an Update answering the following prompts:
What was your first experience with race or racism?
What was your most recent experience with race or racism?
What significance is there to thinking/talking about your experiences?
Interview someone of a different race than you and ask the same questions.
This update will really start hitting hard for the kids. Many kids will start questioning their life experiences and those of their peers. Depending on where your personal racial consiousness journey these conversations could become harder for you as well.
Equality VS Equity
Create an Update answering the following prompts:
Use multimedia elements to demonstrate your ideas.
Today is Discussion #2
“Black scientists and technicians, many of them women, used cells from a black woman to help save the lives of millions of Americans, most of them white. And they did so on the same campus—and at the very same time—that state officials were conducting the infamous Tuskegee syphilis studies.” (97)
3. Who is benefiting from the HeLa cell line? Do you think these people were in it for the money and fame or for the betterment of human health?
Next we will split into 4 groups and each read one article. Fill out the below prompts related to your article and be prepared to share in a small group.
Article Titles and Documents
Is a Lack of Cultural Diversity in Healthcare Harming Our Patients?
Medical Testing on Prisoners Is Unethical and Should Be Outlawed
This doctor breaks down language and cultural barriers to health care
Racial bias in a medical algorithm favors white patients over sicker black patients
I like to update these articles every year. The newest addition was the article about the Algorithm and it has really added a new element to our disucssions.
Part 3 of the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is titled Immortality, between now and the scheduled Discussion #3 you will need to read this portion of the book and answer the reading guide questions attached.
Along with reading you will be doing work related to your own personal racial conciousness. Then relating the book and personal growth to institutional racism in healthcare. You will do this work in the form of disucssions and updates as you work through this module.
This section gives students the assignment of reading Part 3 of the book and gives the guided reading questions. These questions have been written my Rebecca Skoot the author and I have pared them down to just 1-2 question per chapter that I feel really captures the essence of that chapter and has kids thinking about the science going on in the book and the racism/healthcare themes.
Citation for the Chapter Questions: Skloot , R. (n.d.). The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Teacher's Guide . Retrieved February 23, 2020, from http://rebeccaskloot.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/RHSklootTeachersGuideLORES.pdf
The Words of Diversity and Equity
You will be exploring the vocabulary associated with diversity and equity. Go to the below link and watch the short videos and fill out the below graphic organizer.
https://projects.seattletimes.com/2016/under-our-skin/#
Task |
Institutional Racism |
Person of Color |
Racist | Ally | Microagression | All Lives Matter | Poliitcally Correct | Colorblindness | Safe Space | Diversity | White Privilege | White Fragility |
Write down your first reaction to this word from the video. |
||||||||||||
Define the word. | ||||||||||||
What impact does this word have on our Community | ||||||||||||
What impact does this word have on Healthcare |
Create an update chooing one of the above words. Relate this word to your life, the book and our discussions about institutional racism.
Be sure to include multimedia elements.
For this section you will need to go through all of the videos and feel like you truly understand these words before you assign your students to define them.
Implicit Bias
You will be using the website http://www.lookdifferent.org/ to create an update around the following prompt:
Choose one of the types of Bias (Racial, Gender, Anti-LGBTQ+) and explore it through the above link. Create an update answering the questions
This activity is based on the Harvard study of Implicit Bias. I would highly suggest completeing the Harvard test for yourself.
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
This update will really start pushing kids to think about soutions to the bias and racism that is so prevalent in our society.
Today's discussion will begin with a culminating activity about personal identity work called My World View.
Discussion Prompts:
First Listen to the NPR Report:
https://goo.gl/fbmxBd What is your initial Reaction to this report?
What questions do you have after thinking about the situation for a minute?
3. After looking at the infographic: What ideas or questions do you have with the information that you are looking at?
4. Institutionalized Racism is Racial discrimination that has become established as normal behaviour within a society or organization. Do you think that Institutionalized racism exists in our healthcare system? Explain your stance.
Final Thoughts
Note: Don’t hold back =) This is your time to tell me exactly what you think… I use
these to make the discussions and learning better for the next round of
students
This discussion is always very interesting! Typically kids have grown to be confident in their voice around race and racism and we have a really great conversation!
Here is the document for the questions that I ask for the My World View Activity.
I suggest completing this activity ahead of time so you know where you stand in your world view. This activity can really bring up some fragility and anxiety in kids. Especially white kids who think that their life is very diverse and find out that the people who is closest to them oftentimes looks most alike them.
A good discussion point is to then brainstorm how to widen your world view.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Conclusion Paper
Prompt: Throughout the course of reading the book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot our class has had discussion that center on institutional racism and bias in healthcare. Your summative assessment is a paper where you focus on a specific type/incidence of bias/racism in healthcare and propose a solution to that problem. You will also need to identify any counterclaims or negativity that would arise with this solution and debunk/counteract them.
This paper will be due one week from today and we will complete peer reviews and revisions to the work before you turn in your final product.