FOR EDUCATORS
This topic addresses a general need for the incorporation of informational texts in the ELA classroom. Diction and word choice go beyond works of fiction and have particular importance in the legislative setting: the lesson below elaborates on how word choice in Louisiana law has real-life implications and implores students to examine these implications on a sociopolitical level.
Creating this site has made me a more social justice oriented educator in that I've uncovered so much information about how women of color and women of lower economic status are disproportionately affected by abortion bans. A significant percentage of abortion procedures are needed by these groups, and the removal of their bodily autonomy via the bans is a form of oppression that is easily overlooked. Therefore, this assignment addresses cultural responsiveness in the attention to socioeconomic status as a critical point in analyzing the impact of abortion legislation in Louisiana.
Additionally, creating a website-- a challenge which I highly suggest for educators to attempt at least once through Wix or another site builder-- has made me a more digitally literate teacher. Until now, building a website was always a digital hurdle I had never successfully jumped, and doing so has revealed the vast extent of how creativity can manifest in an online community.
LESSON PLAN
Name of lesson: Louisiana Legislature: Hexagonal Connections
Teacher: Gabrielle Mesen
Length of lesson: 45 minutes/entire class period
Student identities and background: Secondary ELA, ages 16-17 (11th grade), majority upper-middle to upper class, 90% Caucasian
Learning goals: Understand the significance of word choice and vocabulary in informational text, draw sociopolitical and ethical questions from case law and local articles, make connections between recent legislative changes and larger societal issues (i.e., impact on marginalized groups and women).
Identities: This lesson emphasizes how the overturn of Roe v. Wade and Louisiana’s subsequent abortion ban affects their (and others’) lives.
Skills: The primary skill taught is the analysis of vocabulary and word choice in informational text—particularly Louisiana law—as a significant link between the authoring system and the individual.
Intellect: Students will learn the legal background of Louisiana abortion law (via an incorporation of the Pecha Kucha lecture model) and the state’s current laws concerning their reproductive rights. Students will be exposed to the legislation and personal accounts of the repercussions for Louisiana citizens. Students will think critically about ethical and sociocultural concerns that arise from the chosen language of informational texts, particularly in the legal context.
Criticality: Thinking about power, equity, and anti-oppression will result directly from reading a local article that highlights the importance of clarity in the law as well as how the state’s abortion ban disproportionately affects marginalized groups.
Layered Texts:
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LA Rev Stat § 40:1061 (2015)
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Sasani, A., & Cochrane, E. (2022, August 19). 'I'm carrying this baby just to bury it': The struggle to decode abortion laws. The New York Times. Retrieved November 1, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/us/politics/louisiana-abortion-law.html
Vocabulary and Concepts:
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Trigger law
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Human rights
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Impairment
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“Substantial risk”
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“Reasonable judgment”
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Constitutional
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Access
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Autonomy
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Criminal
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Due Process
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Fundamental
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Privacy
Student Spark: Instructor will give a brief lecture using the Pecha Kucha model to illustrate the problematic nature of imprecise diction. This will flow into a more precise discussion of legislative format in reading the actual state ban (RS 40:1061), highlighting and marking up a copy of the ban’s structure with students (example attached).
Body of Lesson: Students will then read an article from the NY Times on the impact of Louisiana’s strict trigger ban and the vagueness of life-altering diction (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/us/politics/louisiana-abortion-law.html). In a form of critical analysis, students will then complete a digital activity in which they (literally) connect ideas from the article—hexagonal connections—to convey their interpretation of the various interwoven social, personal, and legal facets of life after the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Students will then discuss and explain chosen arrangements.
RELEVANT READINGS:
DREDGER & BEACH (2013):
LUCAS & RAWLINS (2015):
Kristen Lucas & Jacob D. Rawlins (2015) PechaKucha Presentations: Teaching Storytelling, Visual Design, and Conciseness, Communication Teacher, 29:2, 102-107, DOI: 10.1080/17404622.2014.1001419