November 11, 2008

posted by Miriam Cherry

Forgive me for being a little mocking, but am I to understand that a law school professor demonstrated the innovative teaching technique of using jeopardy to review material at a conference? Cause, I gotta tell ya, not only did I use jeopardy in the high school classes I taught 10 years ago, but I *played* jeopardy for exam review when I was *in* high school, 15 years ago.

If law school profs think these techniques are innovative, then I think they might consider talking to high school teachers more often. Call a school, ask the principal who his/her most innovative teacher is, and offer to buy that teacher coffee or lunch or something. The teacher will be flattered, and I bet you'll learn a lot.

Hi, Eric,
You may or may not be familiar with the "socratic method," but it's one of the dominant ways that law is taught in the US. It's done through a dialogue with an individual student and consists of a series of questions and answers designed to help the students with his/her analytical skills. While some students find this valuable, others react with psychological distress (because it is done through cold-calling, in typically fairly large classes). So there have been calls for modifying this method and for engaging students in more active learning. Maybe appealing to visual, read/write, and kinesthetic learners isn't new for many in the education field, and so we're behind the curve in law schools.

On the last point, I would bet you're probably right, teachers of various subjects can learn a lot from each other. There were quite a number of high school teachers who were extremely inspiring to me. I'm not sure they were using innovative techniques, but they were excellent classroom teachers nonetheless.

Eric, et al. -

Miriam's post is a valuable contribution to anyone who is in the teaching profession, but it is most clearly relevant to those of us who teach law students.

The stodgy and intimidating atmosphere represented by Professor Kingsfield in "The Paper Chase" is giving way to a more comfortable environment in which a multitude of approaches -- yes, even including resort to games like Jeopardy or a "Grammar Bee" -- are welcomed by students. Happily these approaches enhance the learning atmosphere and allow instructors to stay fresh and remain creative, two of the critical aspects of successful teaching at any level.

The prevalent law school class style is pretty much the opposite of what it should be to maximize learning, so.. yeah.

To some extent, this conversation hearkens me back to arguments I'd have with a math professor friend of mine who kept getting bad teaching reviews (he's gotten better in the intevening years). He'd say, "Eric, you a teacher degree, tell me how I can improve my teaching." And I'd rattle off ten ideas I'd gotten from various ed classes or mentors. And then he'd say "yeah, those may be OK for high school, but I don't think they'll work for college math. I'll just have to lecture better." To which I'd respond, "AARG!"

Look, I get there's a culture of lecturing and the socratic method in higher and post-graduate education. But that's only because teaching has traditionally been the lowest priority of on many college profs' To-Do list, and lecturing is by far the easiest on the teacher, with the Socratic method a close second, especially once the lectures and questions are prepared (When I taught, I used the socratic method often, lecturing only very rarely). What I can tell you is that those two techniques are not employed they're so hellfire good at educating people.

The folks who have been focused on teaching methods for decades are grade school teachers, and not just the charismatic ones. Which is why I'll reiterate what I said earlier: Take a teacher out to lunch. Any competent, experienced teacher will have a dozen tricks up their sleeve on the same order as jeopardy for making exam prep fun. They've got a whole bag of tricks for explaining abstract ideas, conveying bulk information, and teaching new skills. I guarantee that by the end of the meal you'll have five new ways to teach subject materials that you've taught the old way for years.

Hi, Eric,
Sounds like you want a free lunch. When are you available?
Miriam

Miriam,

Heh, who wouldn't want a free lunch? Alas, I haven't been a teacher for years now. I left the field to become a journalist, which is what I do now. But I'm sure you could find someone in your town without much trouble.

- Eric

Oh, well, if you're a journalist, even better, then I definitely want to buy you lunch...