Teaching law students in law school before they become 'baby sharks'
Imagine you're standing in a seminar room of 20 students. Or perhaps it's a lecture theatre of 300 students. Looking around, you can see students watching you. Others stare at their screens, at their phones or off into the distance. How many would you say were 'engaged'? And how would you tell? A recent summary …
Continue reading Law student engagement isn’t about bums on seats
I recently came across a post on Education Week - 'The Secret to Student Engagement' - written by Chip and Dan Heath. The editors identified it as one of their '10 Big Ideas in Education'. It's a short summary of their book 'The Power of Moments'. Their argument is simple - 'meaningful experiences ... stand …
Imagine for a minute that you are running your own law school. Got it? Now imagine a wealthy philanthropist gifted you $80 million to improve your law students' performance. But there's a condition. You have to spend the money on individual law teachers' salaries and development. No-brainer right? You'd think that student achievement would improve. …
Continue reading Could collaborative planning improve law students’ performance?
Do a quick search of 'impostor syndrome'. What did you find? What about 'impostor syndrome in law school'? That produces some worrying results. There is a mountain of advice about how self-professed 'impostors' - law students, lawyers and academics - can heal themselves. A lot of it is good advice about talking to other people. …
Continue reading Law school ‘impostors’ need allies not accomplices
This is the second in a series of posts on theories of learning and teaching – specifically the concepts of formal or explicit curricula and informal, implicit or ‘hidden’ curriculum.