CELL Blog | Center for Engaged Learning in the Law

I recently had a Contracts II class session go particularly well. Afterwards, I reflected in my teaching journal on what went right. Here is the list of things I think helped:

1. The session focused on a particular skill, identifyimng contractual ambiguities, that law professors expect students to master yet seldom explicitly teach. By providing readings and exercises focused on developing that skill and disclosing the development of that skill as an objective, I allowed the students and me to focus on developing a skill I regardas crucial for practicing contracts lawyers.

2. I pre-disclosed each of the problems I wanted to discuss in class, and asked students to respond to these problems as part of their class preparation. This choice allowed me to use class time for students to work in their small groups on deepening their understanding of their analysis of the ambiguities.

3. I used established small groups so the students were familiar with working with each other, and I assigned explicit roles (each student rotated into a role as a presenter and as a reporter for one of the six problems while the rest of the students served as comentators). We went back and forth between group work on each problem and presentation by one or two reporters.

4. I found ways to take delight in my students’ insights, which was very easy because they did so well.

5. I used multiple methods of instruction, including small group, lecture, law school Socratic, students serving in a role as teachers, etc.

~Mike