CELL Blog | Center for Engaged Learning in the Law

The faculty of my school invited the director of the undergraduate teaching and learning institute, Peter Felten, to speak with us this past week. He was very helpful and I left the room with new ideas and perspectives. He talked mostly about metacognition and how people learn. He recommended a book that might not make the “Oprah Book Club,” but would have a chance to make its law equivalent. It is accessible not only in the way it is written, but also because it can be read on-line. The book, “How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice” (The National Academy Press 2000)(M. Suzanne Donovan, John D. Bransford and James W. Pellegrino, Editors), can be found at www.nap.edu/catalog. As Peter noted in his presentation, Chapters 2 (Key Findings) and 3 (Responses from the Education and Policy Communities) are particularly useful.

Peter’s site also has some terrific resources. If interested, go to http://org.elon.edu/catl/resources.html.(Peter has no idea I am promoting him, his site or his material.)

–Steve Friedland

Years ago, an educational consultant came to a law school to help the faculty become better teachers. She sat in the back of several classes over a few days. At the end of the class, she asked each professor, “Who in the room is acting like a lawyer?”

The professor was certainly acting like a lawyer. Students who volunteered or were called on were acting like lawyers, answering questions and making arguments. That left many students not speaking, not participating in the discussion. The fantasy, of course, is that everyone not speaking in class is vicariously participating, answering questions silently, asking follow-up questions to the teacher, and following every piece of the discussion. We know the reality is different. This is what the consultant was getting at. Perhaps seventy-five to eighty percent of the class was not acting like a lawyer.

I try to keep asking myself this question when I am preparing for and teaching class. Who in the room is acting like a lawyer? If it appears that I am talking to much, having that question in the back of my mind prompts me to use an active learning exercise. It also helps me keep my focus – if I am wondering how I can get more students to act like a lawyer in class, I am thinking about what the students are learning, not just about what I am doing and whether I am doing ok.

Who in the room is acting like a lawyer? Perhaps another question might be why aren’t more students acting like lawyers? Is it, as Kerri Sigler suggests, because they have hit the wall and it is no longer fun? Is it the amount of material we ask students to work through? The lack of variety in how we teach? The nature of the students’ day until class? The hard part is coming up with the materials that allow most students to be acting like lawyers. It’s hard to develop the kind of questions and learning exercises that don’t themselves become old, tired and dull. But if we want students to be lawyers, then we should give them as many opportunities as possible to practice those skills.