University of Illinois College of Law
Goal of this Session:
- Discuss approaches and techniques that will help new teachers "issue spot"
- Reveal painful experiences to help you avoid making the same ones
Getting Started
- Setting Goals
- substantive goals
- pedagogical goals
- Casebooks and Course Materials
- selecting a casebook
- how much extra material?
- Your Syllabus
Teaching
- Before Class
- preparing class notes
- getting your head into the game
- During Class
- the first class
- names
- calling on students
- hypothetical cases
- your experiences
- After Class
- it's like an oral argument
- mark your notes
Outside the Classroom
- Office Hours
- Communicating with Students
- Socializing with Students
Problems and Solutions
- Five Common Mistakes
- changing horses
- temper and humor
- if you can't copy 'em, don't imitate 'em
- exam errors
- grading errors
- Difficult Course Topics
- Difficult Students
- unprepared students
- disruptive students
- Evolutions - An Associate Dean's Perspective
- take them seriously, but only as a group
- mid-semester evaluations
- three biggest criticisms
- three biggest areas of praise
For Further Information
The Law Teacher (newsletter): http://law.gonzaga.edu/ilst/Newsletters/indxauth.htm
Institute for Law School Teaching: http://law.gonzaga.edu/ilst/ilst.htm
General Resources: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/profiles/glesnerfines/bgf-edu.htm (Barbara Glesner Fines at the University of Missouri-KC)
Gerald Hess & Steve Friedland, TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING LAW (Carolina Press 1999).
Symposium: Teaching Values in Law School, 36 U. SAN FRAN. L. REV. 591 (2002)