Gabi, a Girl in Pieces

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Research Project: Teenage Pregnancies in US States”

In this activity, students will work in small groups to research, write, and present a paper or other product examining teenage pregnancy rates in different US states.

After learning about Cindy’s pregnancy, Gabi worries that her best friend will “just become another statistic: Hispanic Teen Mom #3,789,258” (July 29). While Gabi’s concern relates to Hispanic girls specifically, teenage pregnancy is widespread throughout many US communities. Working in small groups, you will research the rates of teenage pregnancy rates in one US state and write a paper on your findings. Use the following questions to guide your research:

• In what state are you focusing your research? How does this state compare to other US states in terms of statistics?
• Within which ages are pregnancies considered teenage pregnancies?
• What are the reasons (if any) that this state reports high/low numbers of teenage pregnancies? (e.g., access to birth control methods/family planning clinics; developed/underdeveloped reporting mechanisms, etc.)
• What is the state doing to ameliorate the situation? (e.g., high school awareness programs, access to resources and support, etc.)

Finally, with your group, present your findings to the class. In a class discussion, make comparisons among the different states regarding the correlation between statistics and response mechanisms. Remember to be respectful and considerate when discussing what can be sensitive topics like these.

Teaching Suggestion: This Activity connects with Cindy’s pregnancy as well as the hypocrisy and double standards that Gabi examines in her friend’s and her mother’s pregnancies. Although Gabi’s concern in the novel is related to the stereotypical representation of her Hispanic community in high teenage pregnancy rates, it is recommended that students not focus on a particular ethnic/racial/religious community, instead focusing their research on statewide statistics, using only reputable resources for their evidence. Within each small group, you may want to have each student focus on responding to and presenting on one specific question. For the class discussion portion, remind students that all criticism and dissent must be offered in a mature and respectful manner.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students sensitive to the topic and/or those who are interested in creative writing, have skills in data analysis and potentially qualitative research, or demonstrate linguistic-verbal intelligences, consider offering an alternative project—one in which they still must identify and cite a pertinent teenage pregnancy statistic but with a different resultant product: a creative-writing mini-narrative that illuminates that data point. For example, if Cindy’s teenage pregnancy in the novel is a data point in some larger research database, then the novel would be providing those narrative insights into that data point (and proving that those who get pregnant are far more than just a data point).