For this assignment, you will read a reflective essay on racism, which was written by a physician and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Then you will respond to the essay by practicing your own reflective writing skills.

Instructions:

1. Please read: Racist like me – A Call to Self-Reflection and Action for White Physicians. Deborah Cohan, M.D., M.P.H. https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMp1814269?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed (In case the link does not work, I have uploaded a PDF of the article to the Week 8 content folder.)

2. We can learn a lot when we listen to or read about someone else’s perspective. As you read the essay, identify one of your misconceptions or:

· Something that did not match your expectation.

· Something that surprised you.

· An assumption (of yours) that might not be correct.

· A gap in your understanding

· A generalization (of yours) that did not match with the reality.

3. As you read the essay, identify one emotion that you are feeling (ex. happy, sad, mad, peaceful, powerful, joyful, etc.)

4. Write a reflective essay that discusses what you learned from Dr. Cohan. Your essay must contain the following elements of reflective writing:

· Reflective writing contains a lesson, so provide a description of one misconception (or assumption, surprise, gap in knowledge, or generalization) you had before reading Dr. Cohan’s essay, plus a description of your understanding after reading the essay.

· Reflective writing attends to emotions, so provide a description of one emotion that you felt while (or after) reading Dr. Cohan’s essay.

· Reflective writing includes a plan for the future, so provide a description of one specific thing you could do in the immediate future to apply what you have learned. (By “immediate future” I mean in the next week, month, or semester. Do not say, “when I’m a physician I will…”)

5. After you have composed your essay, identify the following features of your essay. You can do this by highlighting or copying the appropriate quotes from your essay.

· Your misconception/assumption/gap in knowledge

· Your current understanding

· Your emotion

· Your plan

Reference:

· Racist like me – A Call to Self-Reflection and Action for White Physicians. Cohan D. New England Journal of Medicine.