Law School Faculty Support: Faculty Support

Designed for law teachers who want to improve their teaching and students learning, this book offers general teaching principles and dozens of concrete ideas. The first two chapters present foundational principles of learning and instruction as well as insights from students. The next 12 chapters address classroom dynamics, technology, questioning, discussion, collaborative learning, experiential learning, feedback, assessment, and continued development for teachers. Each of these 12 chapters introduces the topic based on educational research and then offers classroom-tested exercises, approaches, material, and methods contributed by veteran teachers.

Introduction -- The big picture : consciously choosing what your course will aim to accomplish -- Preparing a new course -- In the classroom : overarching precepts -- In the classroom : the first day -- In the classroom : day-to-day teaching techniques -- Using technology to support your teaching -- Conducting the course review session -- The sensitive interval between the final class and the day of the exam -- Creating the exam -- Grading the exam -- Reviewing the exam -- Conclusion. There are also subject-specific books in this series that are on reserve. Some titles are available in PDF format. If you would like a PDF copy, please contact Dr. Yolanda Jones.

A Legal Education Renaissance suggests a model for change and provides answers to criticism of the current system by addressing curriculum, teaching, faculty, and costs.

Professors Michael Hunter Schwartz, Sophie Sparrow and Gerry Hess, three leaders in the teaching and learning movement in legal education, have collaborated to offer a new book designed to synthesize the latest research on teaching and learning for new and experienced law teachers.  The book begins with basic principles of teaching and learning theory, provides insights into how law students experience traditional law teaching, and then guides law teachers through the entire process of teaching a course. The topics addressed include: how to plan a course; how to design a syllabus and select a text; how to plan individual class sessions; how to engage and motivate students, even those tough-to-crack second- and third-year students; how to use a wide variety of teaching techniques; how to evaluate student learning, both for the purposes of assigning grades and of improving student learning; and how to be a lifelong learner as a teacher.

While there are many good books to aid those seeking a career in teaching, Miller's work seeks to fill the vacuum that currently exists in law teaching specifically. The 14 chapters, which follow a typical 14-week law school term, include the following topics: Course Objectives, Syllabi, Lectures, Socratic Method, Differentiating Instruction, Integrating Instruction, Assessment, Multiple Choice Questions, Essay Questions, and Scoring and Grading. There is also a beginning chapter on Pedagogy to help law professors appreciate the various theoretical schools on education and the history of law teaching, and a concluding chapter on Teaching Vision. The book also includes "Reflections"; short outtakes throughout the work which encourage the reader to pause and reflect on what he or she just read, as well as "Exercises" at the end of each chapter to help reinforce what one has just read. Finally, but just as importantly, Vickie Eggers has created a CD that accompanies this book. In it, she uses a Powerpoint presentation to illustrate each chapter of the book in a way that further enhances the reader's comprehension of the overall work.

Maharg presents a critical inquiry into the identity and possibilities of legal education, and an exploration of transformational alternatives to our current theories and practices of teaching and learning the law. This book analyses and challenges current traditions, and suggests that differing cultures of educational research in the UK and in the US mean there is much which can be learnt from each other's traditions and research.

The essays included in this volume began as presentations at the March 19 20, 2010 Vulnerable Populations and Economic Realities teaching conference organized and hosted by Golden Gate University School of Law and co-sponsored by the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT). That conference, generously funded by a grant from The Elfenworks Foundation, brought together law faculty, practitioners, and students to reexamine how issues of race, gender, sexual identity, nationality, disability, and generally outsider status are linked to poverty. Contributors have transformed their presentations into essays, offering a variety of roadmaps for incorporating these issues into the law school curriculum, both inside the classroom as well as in clinical and externship settings, study abroad, and social activism. These essays provide glimpses into teaching moments, both intentional and organic, to help trigger opportunities for students and faculty to question their own perceptions and experiences about who creates and interprets law, and who has access to power and the force of law. This book expands the parameters of law teaching so that this next generation of attorneys will be dedicated to their roles as public citizens, broadening the availability of justice.

The central message in both BEST PRACTICES and in the contemporaneous Carnegie report is that law schools should broaden the range of lessons they teach, reducing doctrinal
instruction that uses the Socratic dialogue and the case method; integrate the teaching of knowledge, skills and values, and not treat them as separate subjects addressed in separate courses; and give much greater attention to instruction in professionalism.

This workbook guides both new and experienced teachers in the steps of course design and through a process of self-reflection and decision-making so that they can be more effective teachers. It begins by helping teachers identify the primary goals and missions of their law schools, their beliefs about legal education, and their beliefs about teaching the law. Randall then helps teachers explore the factors that influence the decisions they will make during course planning, the sources they will use for teaching advice, and their overall approaches to their courses. The book ushers teachers through the various decision points in course planning: establishing course goals and objectives; selecting and arranging the content and skills to be taught; determining students learning characteristics; selecting materials and resources, including caselaw; identifying appropriate teaching methods, including collaborative methods and online technology; and revising the course.

This volume, under the presidency of Lee Shulman, is intended primarily to foster appreciation for what legal education does at its best. We want to encourage more informed scholarship and imaginative dialogue about teaching and learning for the law at all organizational levels: in individual law schools, in the academic associations, in the profession itself. We also believe our findings will be of interest within the academy beyond the professional schools, as well as among that public concerned with higher education and the promotion of professional excellence.

Law schools and individual law teachers interested in implementing a comprehensive assessment program will benefit from Outcomes Assessment for Law Schools by Gregory Munro. This book provides practical guidance on the development of an overall assessment program for law schools as well as methods of assessment to improve teaching and learning in individual law courses. Munro's book provides concrete examples to demonstrate various aspects of assessment. The author anticipates various obstacles to the establishment of assessment programs, and he suggests ways to address those obstacles.

Print copy on reserve.