I think we have all had the lecturer's nightmare, Ron. What I have done here
with our judges, law clerks and assistant County Attorneys is to introduce
some competition into the learning process. After a brief Power Point
lecture, I divide the group into teams, usher them over to our pc's, give
them exercises earning points and award silly prizes. In '98 we staged the
"Judicial Olympics" complete with gold, silver and bronze ribbons attached
to bags of Hershey's kisses...Okay, it's silly, but the judges loved it. I
and my assistant wear baseball hats, have whistles around our necks and
generally ham it up. We also walk around assisting the students. The
instructions on the exercises encourage cheating, so that there will be some
self-teaching going on. We also serve Power Bars and Gatorade as
refreshments. Hey, subtle it's not, but at least they don't fall asleep! We
have actually received some very positive feedback from the students.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Huttner [mailto:rshutt@netspace.net.au]
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 1999 8:42 AM
To: law-lib@ucdavis.edu
Subject: Re: Silence in the classroom?
Sandra,
You could always try giving your question itself to the students to
research. Get *them* to try to find the relevant articles - using both
computer-assisted legal research as well as traditional methods. Tell them
that those who succeed in finding *really* good articles on the topic of to
how to keep a bunch of law students amused/interested/awake, may well be
rewarded by your adoption of the ideas in those articles. That will give
them a worthwhile incentive ! By the way, only last year I had the
so-called "Lecturer's Nightmare". I dreamed I was trying to teach
Computer-Assisted Legal Research to a group of thoroughly disinterested
First-Year students. Then I awoke..... And I was.
Cheers,
Ron Huttner
>Does anyone recall any articles that discuss and/or suggest
>methods for overcoming silence in the classroom and student lack of
>participation? I have looked in Westlaw and law review indexes but
>haven't been able to find anything that discusses how to encourage class
>participation, deal with silences in the classroom or promote student
>responsiveness and interaction. If anyone remembers seeing any discussion
>on this topic, any leads would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Sandy
>
>Sandra B. Placzek
>Law Librarian, Reference
>Schmid Law Library
>University of NE-Lincoln
>Lincoln, NE 68583-0902
>phone: 402.472.8261
>fax: 402.472.8260
>sandrap@unllib.unl.edu
Ronald S Huttner LL.B.(Hons)
Barrister And Solicitor
Consultant And Trainer In Computer-Assisted Legal Research
Lecturer In Computerised Legal Research (02.10.95 to 02.10.98)
Internet Sites For Lawyers - http://www.viclf.asn.au/research.html
Personal Home Page - http://www.viclf.asn.au/pers1.html
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