Teaching law students in law school before they become 'baby sharks'
The first day of the semester at law school is rapidly approaching for law school in the southern hemisphere. You’ve spent days (or even weeks) compiling your curriculum, your reading list, and writing assessment tasks. You might have also started to (re)write your lectures and lesson plans. But have you thought about your first day …
Continue reading Being excited about your first day of class can improve your students’ marks
Ever stood at the front of a lecture theatre for your class and thought, 'I wonder where everyone is?' As you pull the microphone holder over your head and hit the record button, have you wondered about whether it might be about you? Some recent research from an Australian law school suggests that not imagining …
Continue reading Recording affects lecture attendance, but they are listening
There is a lot of advice on the internet for law students about how to email a law teacher. In a recent post, Inside Higher Ed collects some of the most popular advice for students that is has published over the last 5 years. Generally, the guidance has come from teachers with a subtext of …
Continue reading Emailing a law teacher is a professional skill
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
Education Week has launched a project it calls Tiny Teaching Stories. It's an anthology of short (tiny) stories by teachers about their classroom experiences. It's a powerful example of how to build a teaching community. And it's also a deeply moving reminder of those little moments that can change a teacher and a student. As law …