How Do You Spend the Last Five Minutes of Class?

The following guest post was written by Mark Caldwell, Program Development and Resource Director at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.

Sometimes Face Book leads you further than updates of restaurants your "friends" have visited, Selfies of others bragging about where they have been, and reminders of a friend's birthday. This past week a post from my friend, and teaching colleague, Marianna Hogan directed me to a wonderful article on the Chronicle of Higher Education's page titled, Small Changes in Teaching: The Last 5 Minutes of Class (http://chronicle.com/article/Small-Changes-in-Teaching-The/235583) by James M. Lang. I commend this article to your personal reading, along with the other posts from Prof. Lang.

Lang opines that, "most faculty members eye the final minutes of class as an opportunity to cram in eight more points before students exit, or to say three more things that just occurred to us about the day's material, or to call out as many reminders as possible about upcoming deadlines, next week's exam, or tomorrow's homework." In reading this I had one of those "cosmic whacks on the side of the head" as I recalled all too many sessions where I attempted to cram in one more performance or offer one more "critical" piece of advice that I knew would make every student a vastly improved trial lawyer. Lang reminded me of just how wrong I was. I was shamed into considering his solution and reminded it was a tool I had foolishly abandoned.

Teaching Trial Advocacy to 1Ls: The 1st STEP Experience

Four years ago, Wes Porter, Director of the Litigation Center at the Golden Gate University School of Law, created an innovative program to teach evidence and trial advocacy to law students in the summer between their first and second years of law school. The program, called 1^st STEP (Summer Trial and Evidence Program), has garnered national attention. In 2013, the program was featured in PreLaw Magazine's 25 Most Innovative Ideas issue and in National Jurist Magazine's article entitled Fifteen Innovative Experimental Ideas. Wes has also written about the 1^st STEP program in this blog. Additionally, a description and student feedback about the program is on the GGU litigation website.

Classroom at Golden Gate University just before the start of the 1st STEP Immersion Week

14 resolutions for 2014 by Wes Porter

The following guest post is by Wes Porter, Director of the Litigation Center at Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco and is reprinted with his permission.

Golden Gate University's 14 New Year's Resolutions for Law Schools in 2014

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/30/13 -- New Year's resolution-making isn't just for people, but should be a requirement for higher education, particularly law schools, according to Professor Wes Porter, Director of Golden Gate University's Law Litigation Center. "Law schools that continually embrace fresh teaching techniques graduate the smartest students possible," says Professor Porter. To help law schools kick-start 2014, he offers 14 New Year's Resolutions for Law Schools:

1. Experiential learning is required. Clinics, externships, and simulations are now mainstream in legal education and, even before it's required by the bar or ABA, law schools must offer students the opportunities for real-world lawyering.

2. Assign lectures as homework and use classroom time for more application, exercises and problem-solving. Law schools must embrace "flipped classrooms," "blended learning," and YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/wporterable?feature=mhee  

Universal Nature of Advocacy Teaching

Dear Friends:

I am blogging to you from the desk of an apartment in Montmarte, Paris, where my wife and I are spending a few days recovering from a visit to Glasgow and Oxford where I was teaching advocacy in a new LLM program for Strathclyde University. The lights from the Moulin Rouge windmill can just be seen from the window of the sitting room of our apartment (we got it through housetrip.com which I heartily recommend). Since my feet are tired from seeing the Arc de Triumph, Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame today (along with a LONG walk along the Seine) I am resting my feet and thinking about my recent visit to Glasgow. I am grateful to be in Paris with my wife, the last time was with friends from the service, Tyler Harder and Mike Stahlman, and while their company was great, this time has been much, much better!

Like most of you I have taught in many different countries, but I am always moved when I realize that the skills we teach are truly universal. When you get a chance to teach persuasion in a different country, with a different culture, it is a blessing. Suddenly you are divorced from the cultural shorthand that you normally use to transfer an idea to a student. You are forced to rely upon your ability to clearly define a moment in the performance, and then translate that moment into a teaching opportunity. In a way you are vulnerable when that happens, in much the same way as the student is vulnerable every time they perform in front of you. That vulnerability is a gift. It opens doors to communication and gives you a fresh perspective on things.

I got to experience that vulnerability last week, and am grateful for it. It is amazing that so many of the things that challenge us in advocacy remain the same, regardless of the language, court system, or the like. I saw finger rubbing, ring twirling, add on words, lack of eye contact, all of the things that you see when you teach. I also saw a fierce desire to learn coupled with a belief that practical education in the art of advocacy is a higher level of education and one that is to be sought out at each and every opportunity. I also was reminded of how a deep connection to our cultural roots can infuse our advocacy with humor and passion. These lawyers, from all over Europe and even Cambodia, see advocacy training as something that is crucial to the quality of their practice, and necessary to their individual growth. Seeing seasoned professionals so focused on skills education was a moving experience and I am grateful to Dame Elish Angiolini, Principal of St. Hugh's College at Oxford, for the opportunity. I cannot wait to return next year.

It made me think about the joy we get from teaching, from coaching, and from writing. We are blessed to do this for a living, and from the glow of the windmill I just wanted to share that thought with you. It has been a rough year or two in legal education, with a few more rough years to follow. We are fortunate to have the compass of skills to guide us through these troubled times. Isn't it nice that everyone else wants to use it too?

See you at EATS in May!

All the best,

Charlie