| Course | MSW 554 Advanced Techniques for Anti-Racist Practice |
|---|---|
| Week | 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion post |
| Length | About 380 words |
| Format | Discussion post with APA 7 citations |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Master of Social Work (MSW) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MSW 554 Week 1
Week 1 Discussion: Initial Post
What Made You Notice That? One Finished Move in a Case Review When a Colleague Called a Black Client Surprisingly Articulate, the Exact Words, What Followed and the Technique Named Only Afterward
The Scene
Tuesday case review, eight staff around the conference table. A colleague presenting a new client, a Black client, 45, who works as a bus mechanic, said, "Surprisingly articulate for someone with that background." Nobody responded. The presenter moved on.
The Move
When the presenter paused, I said: "Can I ask something? What made 'articulate' stand out to you?"
I chose a question because it gave the presenter something to answer rather than something to defend. A label would have made the next minute about the presenter's character; a question kept it about the words in the note, which is what the client would one day read.
What Followed
The presenter said, "I just meant the client explains things well." I said, "That's useful to know. I wondered about 'for someone with that background,' because I'm not sure what background we mean." The presenter said, "Fair point, I'll take that out of the note." The supervisor said, "Let's keep going," and the review continued. After the meeting, a colleague who is Black said quietly, "Thank you for that."
What I Did Not Do
I did not say the remark was racist, and I did not give a speech. The move asked a question and named the phrase, not the person.
I also did not wait until after the meeting. The remark was going into a written case note, and a private word later would not have reached the note before it was filed. Timing was part of the move.
The Technique, Named Afterward
Racial microaggressions are brief, often unintended remarks that communicate a negative message based on race; calling someone articulate in a tone of surprise is one of the examples in the original taxonomy (Sue et al., 2007). Asking a clarifying question is one of the microintervention strategies described for making the remark visible without escalating (Sue et al., 2019).
For Replies
Tell me about a second room: where would this same question not work, and what would you say there instead?
References
Sue, D. W., Alsaidi, S., Awad, M. N., Glaeser, E., Calle, C. Z., & Mendez, N. (2019). Disarming racial microaggressions: Microintervention strategies for targets, White allies, and bystanders. American Psychologist, 74(1), 128-142. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000296
Sue, D. W., Capodilupo, C. M., Torino, G. C., Bucceri, J. M., Holder, A. M. B., Nadal, K. L., & Esquilin, M. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271-286. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.4.271
MSW 554 Week 1 instructions, in plain terms
Start with one move you have already made, or watched someone make, in response to a racial remark or practice. Set the scene in a few lines: the setting, who was present and the exact words of the remark. Quote your own words exactly. Report what followed, including any silence or a later comment. Say what you chose not to do and why. Only then name the technique, with a source. A move that did not fully work is acceptable if you report it honestly. Keep the post to one moment; a list of commitments or beliefs is not what this discussion asks for. Replies should test whether the move would work in a different room, with a different power balance or audience.
Inside the MSW 554 Week 1 example
The scene places a Tuesday case review with eight staff and a presenter describing a 45-year-old Black bus mechanic. The move quotes the question, "What made 'articulate' stand out to you?" A short section explains that a question gave the presenter something to answer rather than defend, and that timing mattered because the remark was going into a note. The follow-up section quotes the presenter's answer, the second question about background, the decision to revise the note and a colleague's quiet thanks. A section says the writer did not call the remark racist or give a speech. The technique is named afterward, citing Sue et al. (2007) on microaggressions and Sue et al. (2019) on microinterventions.
MSW 554 Week 1 rubric: what full points look like
Graders look for a finished move with exact words. A post that describes beliefs, values or future intentions without a moment of practice loses the most. Credit goes to a scene with its participants, the remark quoted, the response quoted, what followed and an explanation of the choice of move. Naming what the writer did not do shows judgment. Sources should name the technique after the moment, not frame it in advance, and should be cited in APA. A short post about one well-described moment outscores a long post about many. Replies are rewarded for testing a move against a different setting or audience. Explaining why the move came when it did, rather than after the meeting, shows that timing was part of the technique.
MSW 554 Week 1 help from the desk
Posts most often lose marks by staying abstract, describing commitments rather than a move. Another common gap is paraphrasing the remark or the response, which hides exactly what happened. Some posts present the move as a complete success when the outcome was mixed. Others lead with theory, which makes the moment an illustration rather than practice. If you have not yet made such a move, describe one you witnessed and what you would have said, but say clearly that it is a plan. A post that a classmate could test by asking, would this work where you have less standing, invites the right replies.
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More MSW 554 papers and MSW samples
- MSW 554 Week 2: Annotated Session Transcript
- MSW 554 Week 3: Intake Form Redesign
- MSW 554 Week 4: Microaggression Response Script
- MSW 554 Week 5: Meeting Facilitation Plan
- MSW 554 Week 6: Agency Practice Audit
- MSW 554 Week 7: Outreach Language Rewrite
- MSW 554 Week 8: Practice Technique Portfolio
- MSW 555 Week 1: Discussion Post
- MSW 553 Week 1: Two Theories, One Fact Post
- MSW 504 Week 1: Ordinary Situation Theory Post
- MSW 505 Week 1: First Session Worry Post
MSW 554 Week 1 questions, answered
What if nothing I did this week counts as a move?
Almost everything does, at the size this classroom means. A question asked in a different order, a form filled in beside somebody instead of across a desk from them, a name pronounced correctly on the second attempt. The scale that fails here is the large one, because a campaign cannot be quoted and a single sentence can.
Can the post use a scene from a previous job?
In most sections yes, provided the particulars are stripped back to type: the kind of agency, the role of the person, the shift it happened on. Recency matters less than whether the writer can still reproduce the exact words, since a half-remembered utterance is the thing everything else in the post has to hang on.
Do the replies get graded separately from the post?
Commonly they carry their own points and their own rubric row, which is why the example writes them as small pieces of work rather than as courtesies. Each one takes a line from a classmate, puts that line somewhere the classmate did not put it, and says what would happen to it there.
Where can I find a free MSW 554 Week 1 sample paper?
The whole MSW 554 Week 1 post about one clarifying question asked in a case review, with its exact words and what followed, is printed further down this page.
What question did the writer ask in the MSW 554 Week 1 sample?
"What made 'articulate' stand out to you?", followed by a second question about what background the presenter meant, which led the presenter to revise the note.