KEEPING IT REAL: KEEPING IT REAL: DEVELOPING A CULTURALLY DEVELOPING A CULTURALLY AND PERSONALLY RELEVANT AND PERSONALLY RELEVANT LEGAL WRITING CURRICULUMLEGAL WRITING CURRICULUM

Gail S. Stephenson & Gail S. Stephenson &

Linda C. FowlerLinda C. Fowler

As I learn from you,I guess you learn from me---

although you're older---and white---and somewhat more free.

Langston Hughes, Theme for English B

DIVERSITY IN LAW SCHOOLS

• Required by ABA Standards 210 & 211 and AALS Bylaws Sections 6-1(v) & 6-3(c)

• Types of diversity among law students:• Race• Gender• Age• Religion• Sexual orientation• Socioeconomic background

What is a culturally and personally relevant curriculum?

• A curriculum that is culturally relevant:

– provides instruction to students in a familiar sociocultural context and builds upon their diverse learning styles by integrating the learner’s cultural content

– includes language, customs, social norms, ways of doing and seeing things, methods of learning, and considers how people relate to others

• A curriculum that is personally relevant– uses the student’s ability to connect the

course material to his prior experience– connects the learning process to who they

are, what they care about, and how they perceive and know

– is not tied simply to race or ethnicity– considers learning styles and multiple

intelligences

Why is a relevant curriculum important?

• Improves academic success

• Enhances relationship between educator and student

• Empowers learners

• Provides equal learning opportunities

• Helps students prepare for practice in a multiethnic and pluralistic society

Goals of a relevant curriculum

• Improve academic success through coursework that emphasizes the human purpose of what is being learned and its relationship to the students’ personal experiences

• Create the most conducive learning environment through trusting relationships between the students and educators

• Create an empowering environment• Give equal opportunities to learn• Prepare students for practice

Designing a relevant curriculum

• Collaboration with colleagues– Significant resource is fellow teachers,

particularly if one is new to a law school’s culture – can learn about the students and culture

– Sharing teaching materials and writing problems

Designing a relevant curriculum (cont’d)

• Collaboration with students – Autobiographical essays by students– Questionnaires completed by students (see

sample questionnaire)– Individual conferences with students, e.g., to

discuss writing projects or during office hours

Developing a relevant curriculum at SULC

• Discovering what was relevant to SULC students– Autobiographical essays revealed much

diversity– Civil rights cases – Familiar with south Louisiana culture– Students developed their own relevant

materials

Legal Analysis is like grilling steaks…

You need four elements…

The Grill

(Issue or facts)

• The Steaks

(The rule or law)

Seasoning

(Analysis)

Fire

(Conclusion)

If you leave out the seasoning, it may look good….

• But this is what the taster will look like…

Other culturally relevant materials at SULC

• Food is big part of Louisiana culture

• Boudin (blood sausage) is popular Cajun food

• Legal writing problem used Louisiana statute that exempted establishments from health inspection if it heats or prepares boudin or sausage used for personal consumption

Developing a personally relevant curriculum at SULC

• Culturally relevant materials may also be personally relevant—try using local cases or cases involving local attorneys

• Incorporate current local events

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita• Every student at SULC affected:

– Displaced, lost homes, lost jobs, or had friends and family living with them

– Increased traffic in Baton Rouge and pressure on infrastructure due to 230,000 evacuees

– This topic used to develop personally relevant materials:

• Louisiana looting statute used for statutory analysis• Fact pattern in post-hurricane Louisiana involving looting,

burglary, and theft laws

Non-traditional students

• Evening program at SULC has many non-traditional students

• Often older and have or had another career• Areas of law personally relevant to those with

prior career:– Torts (negligence, product and vicarious liability)– Workers’ compensation – Employment law

• May also be familiar with family law through personal experience

Other personally relevant materials

• Discharge in bankruptcy of federally-guaranteed student loans– Students showed particular interest in this

topic and expressed strong opinions regarding the debtor’s situation (some for and others against the debtor)

• Discrimination cases (e.g., age, sex, race, disability)

Learning styles and multiple intelligences

• Another consideration for relevant curricula• Visual learners: use classroom screen and

board, handouts, and postings to class website• Aural learners: lectures, classroom discussion,

small group work, and review sessions with teaching assistant

• Writing learners: drafting exercises, both during and outside class

• Physical activity learners: role-playing, practice oral arguments in class

Learning styles and multiple intelligences (cont’d)

• Using different modalities is also helpful in introducing new information. Examples:

• Legal citation: ALWD readings, lectures, practice citation quizzes on class website individually and with teaching assistant, quiz given in class

• Analysis of legal issues: lecture, individual research, drafting outline of argument, in-class group work, role-playing

Developing relevant curricula at your school

• Identify culture of your students and what may be personally relevant, using:– Records or admissions– Autobiographical essay– Questionnaire (see sample)– Conferences with students– Assignments completed by students– Mission of your law school– Newspapers

Timeline for developing a relevant curriculum at your school

• BEFORE THE SEMESTER: Major assignments can be drafted using information from previous students, records and admissions, and your school’s mission.

• DURING THE SEMESTER, using current students’ info: – Major assignments’ details, e.g., ethnic or racial

identity of parties or location of event could be added – Relevant analogies used in class and smaller

assignments could be drafted

Miller v. Amusement Enterprises, Inc., 259 F.Supp. 523 (E.D. La. 1965),

rev’d en banc, 394 F.2d 342 (5th Cir. 1968).

• Baton Rouge from 1960s where black children were denied access to an amusement park called Fun Fair Park

• Federal district court ruled in favor of the amusement park and presented dry version of the events

• U.S. Fifth Circuit reversed trial court on rehearing en banc, giving longer version of the facts that starkly contrasted with trial court version

Fun Fair Park was the only amusement park for kids in the Baton Rouge area in the 1960s and ’70s.

The Miller case led to the integration of Fun Fair Park. These photos are from 1977.

Fun Fair Park continued to be a popular place for Baton Rouge kids in the 1980s.

Compare and contrast

• Fun Fair Park is an amusement park owned and operated by the defendant. . . . [D]efendant operates thereon a number of mechanical rides for the amusement of children.

• Fun Fair operates eleven major mechanical rides for children, namely, the Train Ride, Roto-Whip, Ferris Wheel, Zoom Ride, Roller Coaster, Bumper Car Ride, Swinging Jim, Caterpillar Ride, Boat Ride, Track Turnpike, and Merry go-round. . . . Located on the premises is a small concession stand from which refreshments such as cold drinks, hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, snow cones, ice cream, assorted sandwiches and coffee may be purchased.

Compare and contrast

• Mrs. Patricia B. Miller, took her two children to Fun Fair Park, intending to use the ice skating facilities which were then in operation.

• Mrs. Miller, in response to Fun Fair's advertisement that ‘Everybody come,’ took her two children, Daniel age 12 and Denise age 9, to the park to ice skate.

Compare and contrast• [U]pon learning that both

of the children were Negroes, the attendant retrieved the skates and informed the plaintiffs that the facilities of Fun Fair Park were privately owned and were open for use by white people only.

• The manager snatched the skates off the counter and announced to Mrs. Miller that Fun Fair did not ‘serve colored’. The people standing in line waiting to rent skates began to giggle, and Denise, frightened and disappointed at not being allowed to skate, started crying. As Denise stood there crying others in line appeared to be amused. Mrs. Miller and her children quickly left the park.

Johnnie Jones, Jr., a 1953 graduate of SULC, represented the Millers. Mr. Jones still practices in Baton Rouge.

Walker v. City of Birmingham, 388 U.S. 307 (1967)

• Justice Stewart’s majority opinion:

• Some 300 or 400 people from among the onlookers followed in a crowd that occupied the entire width of the street and overflowed onto the sidewalks. Violence occurred. Members of the crowd threw rocks that injured a newspaperman and damaged a police motorcycle.

• Justice Brennan’s dissent:

• The participants in both parades were in every way orderly; the only episode of violence, according a police inspector, was rock throwing by three onlookers on Easter Sunday, after petitioners were arrested; the three rock throwers were immediately taken into custody by the police.

DEVELOPING RELEVANT CURRICULA

• Not difficult or time consuming

• Important in establishing rapport with students and in finding the best way to reach them and stimulate their interest in learning