Lesson 2: Leading Legal Discourse in the Classroom

Time: 5-10 minutes

Learning Objectives targeted: #3

Procedure: 

1. Greet the class, remind them of what we went over in the previous lesson, and get them thinking about the kinds of forms that modern gun laws take. This may involve an explanation of things like open/concealed carry laws, what it means for a state to be “shall issue” versus “may issue,”  or introducing the kinds of licenses or registration that may or may not be required to purchase a gun in any given state. 

2. Introduce the class to the structure outlined below. 

Activity: Study Groups

Time: 25 minutes

Learning Objectives targeted: #1

Procedure:

1. Ask the students to come up to the front of the class, and choose a handout for a state they would like to learn about. Every state has a unique set of laws, to some extent, so be sure to warn the students if the state they are interested in studying has a lot of reading involved. Also, be sure that there are only 2-5 students assigned to any given state (according to class size).

2. Instruct students to go find classmates who have the same state and group together. 

3. Ask students to read the Wikipedia chart [B] together, focusing on the main points of the laws. If any groups are struggling with any of the language in the “notes” section, feel free to step in and clarify anything they have trouble understanding. However, if the group is getting stuck on one particular passage, encourage them to move on to other sections. 

Scaffolding: Before sending them out into groups, pick a state to make an example of, and explain to the class how to read the chart, as well as walk them through some of the language they might find in the “notes” section. (I’d recommend a state like Massachusetts). 

Activity: Compare and Contrast: Gun Laws Across States

Time: 30 minutes

Learning Objectives targeted: #1 & #2

Procedure: 

1. After completing their group discussions, have students number themselves off 1 through X (X being however many students are present), so that there are 3-4 students in each group. All 1’s will be in a group together, 2’s, and so on and so forth. This is done in order to place them in groups with students who studied other states. 

2. Once the students are in their groups, hand out the Gifford [A] site statistics to each student based on their state.

3. Using the Grifford statistics as well as drawing on their study group discussions, ask students to formulate conversation with one another in their group by comparing and contrasting laws amongst each other. This activity also encourages the group to practice writing while listening, as they will be writing what they are sharing amongst each other on the poster. 

4. Instruct students to fill the poster with their comparisons and contradictions. This should be around 10-15 speaking points. It is highly recommended for students to bring their own notebooks and writing utensils with them to copy down the 10-15 speaking points, as they will be moving to different groups.

Scaffolding: Offer sentence frames for comparative and superlative statements: for example, “(State name #1) has more/less/the most gun deaths than (state name #2). We think this because (state name #1)...while (state name #2)...

Activity: Poster Brainstorm

Time: 25 minutes

Learning Objectives targeted: #3

Procedure:

1. When students have finished their posters, pair students from different groups together (a group if three is fine as long as each student is from a different group). 

2. Together, using the 10-15 talking points from their original group’s poster, they will compare and contrast the points. For example, one student may say “from my group, Texas had the most ___ with (number)” and another student may say “from my group, New York had the most ___ with (number)” and will conclude which state between the superlatives from their original groups has the most or least of a statistic.

Activity: Class Share Out

Time: 15 minutes

Learning Objectives targeted: #1 & #3

Procedures:

1. After the students finish sharing their 10-15 points, ask them to go back to their seats. 

2. Gather the poster papers and pin them to the front of the classroom to display. 

3. Ask the students if they’d like to share anything that they found interesting or surprising from their discussions. Then ask for superlatives again, to determine which state class-wide has the most or least of a certain statistic. This will encourage students to speak as well as using comparative, contrastive, and superlative language.

Appendix A: https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/ rg/lawcenter/gun-laws/

Appendix B:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_the_United_States_by_state

• Choose a selection of states proportionate to the size of your class. You should avoid including more than one state of the following, unless the size of your class requires it.: AL, AZ, AK, AR, GA, ID, IN, KS, KY, LA, MN, MS, MO, MT, NH, ND, OH, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, WV, WC, WY. 

Note: We have excluded these states due to lack of sufficient idiosyncrasies to spark meaningful discussion, in this our opinion. (Pro-gun lobbying is prevalent in America, and has had a drastic impact on how edifying today’s lesson plan can be.) I realize this presents a significant obstacle to allowing students to research states that they would like to research and an obstacle to your own ability to run the class in a way that might be satisfying for you as a teacher.