Law School Academic Support Blog

SXSWedu Talk on Digital Distractions

This video highlight from The Chronicle of Higher Education focuses on a SXSWedu talk by Manoush Zomorodi and JP Connolly discussing the many students who are distracted by their smartphones, tablets, etc. Unfortunately it is just a clip; I have not yet found a link for the entire talk. It touches on the power of boredom, the endlessness of scrolling, streaks, and disruption of focus. The statistics (from research by Gloria Mark) regarding the impact of interruptions and self-interruptions on brain focus are useful for students to know (begins at 11:29 for those of you who want to scroll there without watching the entire clip). The link is: Digital Distractions. (Amy Jarmon)

The Path to Law Student Well-Being

Hat tip to David Jaffe, Associate Dean for Student Affairs at American University Washington College of Law, for his listserv post regarding The Path to Law Student Well-Being. Part of the information from his post is included here:

". . . a new podcast series, The Path to Law Student Well-Being, sponsored by the Law School Assistance Committee to the American Bar Association Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP). 

The inaugural two-part episode is available here, just below the live Twitter Town Hall taking place this [past] Wednesday [March 28th].

This episode features two short conversations with Dean & Professor of Law Michael Hunter Schwartz of the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law and Professor Larry Krieger of the Florida State University College of Law and is moderated by Professor Susan Wawrose of the University of Dayton School of Law.

• In the first part of this episode, Dean Schwartz and Professor Krieger suggest ways individual faculty members can notice, engage with, and support students they suspect are in distress.
• The second part identifies steps faculty can take to promote student well-being through their teaching in the classroom and includes simple actions for law school administrators.

The podcast series is a response to the call for action in the 2017 National Task Force Report The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change, which was sent to all law schools last fall and sets out specific action items for the legal community, including some specific steps for judges, regulators, employers, bar associations, lawyer assistance programs, and law schools."

 

A Quick Classroom Exercise to Jazz Up Student Learning!

Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of attending the Rocky Mountain Legal Writing Conference. Being exhausted from grading numerous writing assignments into the wee hours of the morning, Prof. Katherine Lyons and Prof. Aimee Dudovitz (Loyola Law School - Los Angeles) caught my attention with the title of their talk: "Integrating Quick Classroom Exercises that Connect Doctrine and Skills and Still Allow You (and Your Students) to Sleep at Night."  

Frankly, this was a presentation that spoke directly to me.  It was medicine for my tired heart and my hurried mind.  I needed sleep (and lots of it)!

My favorite tip was what I'll paraphrase as the "one-moment question."  

Just pop on the screen a one-moment research question and ask your students to get to work researching, drafting, and writing a quick 5-10 minute email answer.  That's right. Start with researching.  As the professors made clear, don't let them blurt out an answer.  Instead, make them work.  Tell them to start looking on the internet, digging into the legal research engines for their answers.  Then, based on their own research discoveries, direct your students to write out short emails to provide you with precise answers to that particular question.  Once submitted, now you can open up the classroom for a well-researched and informed conversation about the answer to the one-moment question. And, because the answers are super-short, it shouldn't take much time to at least make a mark or two on each answer as follow-up feedback.

As an example, Professors Lyons and Dudovitz suggested that one might ask - in the midst of a civil procedure class discussing the propriety of "tag" jurisdiction for instance - whether a plaintiff could properly serve a corporate defendant by serving the summons and complaint on an out-of-state corporate officer just passing through the local airport of the plaintiff's forum state.  As a tip, the professors suggested that you pick out a question that has a bright-line answer based on jurisdictional precedent (and one that can be easily researched).  And, as they suggested, as a bonus have the students keep track of their research trails in arriving at their answers.

That got me thinking.  In my own teaching this semester, perhaps I should ask my students - in the midst of  our studies of constitutional law - whether a state such as Colorado could hypothetically prohibit out-of-state residents from being licensed as Colorado attorneys and, if not, why not.  To confess, I'm pretty sure about the answer but not exactly certain of the reason. But, I think it has to do with the Article IV Privileges and Immunities Clause.  So, I better take heed of the professors' advice and start researching for myself.  In the process, I think that I might just become a better learner (and teacher too)!  (Scott Johns).

Let’s Pause for ABA Mental Health Day!

Please see yesterday’s post by my colleague Kirsha Trychta for great background information and resources here.

What is happening in cyberspace

The ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs and the ABA Law Student Division are cosponsoring a Twitter Town Hall. The hope is to have a national conversation from coast to coast today. More information here:

 

Here’s what’s happening at our law school

• Students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to wear green to show support for mental health awareness.

• The Office of Student Engagement asked that students share what they do to manage stress in law school. Faculty and staff were asked to share stress and anxiety relief strategies, highlight stress-reduction techniques and healthy recipes. 

• A student organization, the Mindfulness Society, in collaboration with the Office of Student Engagement is hosting a lunch segment providing tips on stress and anxiety management in anticipation of final exams. Fun activities and take home treats are planned for those who attend.

What are you doing today?

(Goldie Pritchard)

National Mental Health Day is March 28

"The ABA Law Student Division has selected March 28 as the official National Mental Health Day at law schools across the country. Law schools are encouraged to sponsor educational programs and events that teach and foster breaking the stigma associated with severe depression and anxiety among law students and lawyers."  To help law schools plan events, the ABA offers a 43-page downloadable Planning Toolkit, links to organizations like the Lawyer Assistance Programs and David Nee Foundation, and a robust list of internet resources (including this blog!).

Unfortunately, mental health issues are prevalent in law school.  A 2014 survey of "law student well-being found that one quarter suffered from anxiety and 18 percent had been diagnosed with depression. More than half of the law students surveyed said they had gotten drunk at least once during the past 30 days."  Moreover, a 2016 follow-up study "found that those problems don’t stop in law school.  Fully one in five lawyers are problem drinkers and nearly half have experienced depression at some point during their careers."  

In February 2018 at the ABA midyear meeting, in response to the research, the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates adopted a resolution urging law firms, law schools, bar associations, lawyer regulatory agencies and other legal employers to take concrete action to address the high rates of substance abuse and mental health issues.  The report recommends that law schools deemphasize alcohol at social events, have professional counselors on campus, and have attendance policies that help schools detect when students may be in crisis.  The 2018 resolution expands upon a 2017 recommendation that "approved changes to the Model Rule for Minimum Continuing Legal Education that require an hour of substance abuse and mental health CLE every three years."  (Kirsha Trychta)

 

Reverse Planning for Finals

Most of us have seen a variation of the quote attributed to Ben Franklin, “Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail.”  Professors, mentors, and motivational speakers espouse the quote whenever possible.  I say it at least a few times a year to students.  Planning is critical, but haphazard planning is only marginally better than no plan at all.

I meet with many students who tell me they plan to study and work on outlines when they have free time in April.  Unfortunately, many of those students will meet with me at the beginning of next semester to work on planning because they didn’t have enough time at the end to study effectively.  Remember, law school is constantly busy, and life never slows down.  Waiting for free time inevitably means not finishing outlines or studying before reading week.  Plan to finish outlines early and study more with reverse planning.

Reverse planning is ideal when a particular task has a hard deadline.  Reverse planning advocates starting at the end date and working backwards to allocate time for each step to complete the task on time.  The setup makes it easy to see exactly how much time is necessary to be prepared by the deadline.

Reverse planning works great for finals preparation.  Exam dates for each class set the hard deadline.  Print out a calendar of April and May.  Handwrite the dates for each final on the Calendar.  I know it may sound low tech.  However, research on the benefits of handwriting seems to be published daily.  Psychologically, individuals tend to be more committed to a plan he/she writes down by hand and places somewhere he/she can see it regularly.  I then suggest writing down all class times to show when studying isn’t possible.  The free space is when studying is possible.  You can also check out Amy Jarmon's recent post for tips on using a calendaring system.

Start with practicing and memorizing right before exams.  Set out when to complete practice questions, when to send them to Professors for feedback, when to learn outlines, and what the few days before each test will look like.  From there, start working backwards on how to get all your outlines complete.  Attempt to schedule enough time in April to complete outlines prior to reading week.  Also, try to allocate both practice and learning time throughout April, not just at the end. 

While I advocate for studying as much as reasonable, make sure to keep reasonable in mind.  Be realistic with the plan.  Don’t plan during times you know you will be tired or won’t study.  Make sure to leave ample relaxing and sleep time.  Put breaks and relaxing time on the schedule.  Post the schedule on your refrigerator or a bulletin board you always read.  Check off tasks as you complete them.  Celebrate long study days with bad TV and a scoop (or pint) of ice cream at night. 

Studying for finals is stressful and difficult.  Setting a good plan can alleviate some stress and ensure being well prepared for finals.

(Steven Foster)

The Downward Slope

The semester is rapidly coming to an end. Students are juggling paper deadlines, studies for finals, the banquet/ball season, applications for summer jobs, registration for next year's courses, and much more. Some students are also anxious over midterm exam grades that were not as high as they had hoped.

The level of tension in the building is on the rise. In conversations with students, I have been hearing sentences including phrases such as "I wish I had...," "if only I...," "time got away...," and other regrets. A few of the conversations also include phrases such as "everyone else...," "my classmates are better than me...," and "maybe I'm not good enough...," and other comparisons.

Here in West Texas, the weather has hit the mid-80's, and spring fever is compounding any motivational problems. Coming off Spring Break into such warm temperatures has made the same-old-same-old routine seem even less inviting.

Try these strategies for staying in control over the next weeks as the semester winds down:

•  Put the past behind you. You can only control what you do in the present and future. Stow the regrets for later when rethinking your work strategies for next semester.
• Stop the comparisons to everyone else. You are you and need to focus on what you are able to accomplish.
• Decide where you can study most efficiently and effectively. Where can you focus best? Where can you find a less stressful environment? What environment offers the least distractions and interruptions?
• Plan your exam studying. Look at your weekly schedule and carve out times to devote regularly to exam studying for each course. Think you don't have any time? Look at unused time between classes, TV/video game time, social media time, wasted weekend time, etc.
• Divide each course up into the topics with subtopics that will be on the final exam. You can often find time to study a subtopic when finding time to study an entire topic seems impossible. Any progress, however small, is still progress!
• Use practice questions wisely. If you review material well before doing hard practice questions, it is more efficient and effective. You need real feedback on future exam performance, not squishy "well if I had studied I would have been okay on that question" excuses.
• Choose study partners carefully. Who is serious about doing well? Who is on top of the course? Whose schedule fits with yours? Whose group dynamics do you need to avoid?
• After you study a topic, list the areas of confusion/questions you still have. Go to your professor often to get clarification instead of storing up all your questions until the end of the course.
• Spend time with positive people! Your motivation will increase if you surround yourself with people with "can do" attitudes.
• Get into a healthy routine to benefit your brain and body. Sleep, nutritious meals, and moderate exercise will help your productivity, mental well-being, and energy.

If you are having trouble planning your work, stop in to see the academic support professionals at your school.  They can help you prioritize your work and manage your time better. Expert learners ask for help when they need it. (Amy Jarmon)

 

Reminder: AASE Registration is open

The AASE annual meeting is a great opportunity to gain new ideas for future programming, meet with fellow ASP/bar professionals, and renew your enthusiasm for your job! Whether you are new to ASP/bar work or have been doing it for years, there is always something to gain from attending the conference.

This year's conference is May 22-24 at the St. Louis University School of Law. Registration information is available here: AASE Conference Registration. Hotel reservations can be made at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark at this link: Hotel information. The room block closes on April 23, 2018.

Hope to see you there!

Assistant Dean for Academic Achievement Position at California Western

Follow the link for the position description: Assistant Dean Position.

Mid-Course Learning Opportunity!

It's not too late, at all.  

With most law students facing final exams in a month or so, this is the perfect time for your law students to reflect on their learning...with the goal of making concrete beneficial improvements right now, i.e., with plenty of time to prepare for their final exams.

There are many such self-evaluation learning techniques, but I especially like the questions that adjunct professor Lori Reynolds (Asst. Dean of Graduate Legal Studies at the Univ. of Denver) asks each of her students because the questions are open-ended, allowing students to reflect, interact, and communicate about their own learning with their teacher.  

In fact, just prior to spring break, I asked these questions of my own law students, and I am taking stock of their responses by making changes where needed in my own content and instructional methods too.  You see, learning is a team effort, so it is important to get concrete information from all of your team members (your students) to identify what is helping your students learning, what might be hindering their learning, and what goals have yet to be achieved for the course thus far.  

In my own course this semester, there were two questions that tended to be most valuable.  First, with respect to what might be most hindering learning, I received a number of responses questioning the value of the "think-pair-share" method as a tool to help activate meaningful classroom engagement.  Based on those responses, I am hard at work doing research and re-evaluating my own use of "think-pair-share" to confirm whether in fact the method is an effective learning tool for my classrooms this term.  

The final question also seemed to provide valuable information about my students' learning, namely, in asking them what they might do differently to improve their overall course grade.  To paraphrase their general responses, most students acknowledged that: "It's time to put some more elbow grease into my learning because learning takes curious, engaging, and enterprising hard work on my part."  I was glad to see so many take ownership over their learning.

But, as a word of caution, I was quite afraid to ask these questions.  You see, I have 123 students; that means that I was bound to receive news that I just didn't want to hear because, frankly, I like to be liked.  But, my job as a teacher is not to be liked but to be good at what I have been hired to do. That's my responsibility to my students.  It's my obligation to them.  So, rather than fretting and worrying about what my students might say, I found out.  Yes, some of the comments were a bit painful for me to read.  But, read them I did.  And, more importantly, I stepped back to take them to heart to see whether there might be things that I ought to change to improve my students' learning for the remainder of the semester.  

Looking back, I'm mighty glad I asked because it's already helping me to become a better teacher to my students this semester, while I still have time to make a positive difference in the learning.  So, feel free to use these questions with your students this semester.  (Scott Johns).

 

Strive for Progress, Not Perfection, and Remember the Victories

      “Strive for Progress, Not Perfection” is the text on my laptop. Whenever I present a workshop or go before students using my laptop that is what they see. I selected this phrase because so many students are consumed with perfection at everything they do that they often lose sight of progress made. They forget about those obstacles they overcame which are fundamental to their knowledge base and ability. They are no longer novices because they have some experience. It is all about perspective.

      Perfection may seem like a worthy goal to work towards or even try to achieve but in reality, it sometimes does more harm than good. Perfection is often an unattainable goal that can halt progress. Perfection for law students often means receiving “A” grades in all courses, achieving a perfect GPA, and involvement in coveted extracurricular activities. Whenever one or more of these is not achieved, students are left feeling less than adequate and feeling as though they do not belong in this environment. They focus on their mistakes and challenges which highlight negativity. In reality, very few students achieve the perfection they yearn. Not striving for perfection as a goal means that students can endeavor to improve their competencies and abilities, better themselves, become more effective and efficient with each task, and so much more.

      Currently, several of my students have the “end of semester blues” as they grapple with project and paper deadlines, looming exams, and fear of not finding summer opportunities. This is usually when students express to me their overwhelming frustrations which may be summed up by one or more of the following statements:

“I have been told NO multiple times, I don’t know if I can fill out another application!”

“It appears that there is simply not enough time to complete everything I have to complete!”

“I am tired of having to work ten times harder than others and still fail to get opportunities that others seem to easily have access to with lesser credentials!”

“I feel like the environment is rejecting everything I care about right now. How do I realign my passions with what I am learning and doing?”

“I am rethinking whether I can make a difference.”

      It is my opinion that mistakes are the best way to learn, improve, or progress and it is imperative that students make mistakes and experience some challenges. Mistakes and challenges are necessary for learning, as well as building courage, perseverance, and problem-solving skills. In life, mistakes will happen and challenges will occur. It is the memory of each challenge and mistake that reminds the student of what they have overcome and their ability to prevail. It is my ardent belief that if students can honestly attempt their very best at whatever they do, then at the end, they will feel fulfilled even if they have not fully achieved what they perceive as success.

      It is important to repackage perfectionism. Perfectionism should be seen as incremental progress rather than a single ultimate goal. There is so much joy that comes with celebrating each achievement regardless of how small or big. Commit to honestly performing your best, slowly edging your life closer and closer to where you want to be. Celebrate each and every success, failure, challenge, and mistake along the way. You may sometimes fall but as long as you get up after each negative experience and keep trying, you will make progress. (Goldie Pritchard)

Academic Advising Worksheets

Many of us are intimately familiar with ABA Standard 309(b), which requires a law school to "provide academic support designed to afford students a reasonable opportunity to complete the program of legal education, graduate, and become members of the legal profession."  But, today, I'd like to focus on subsection "(a)."  Standard 309(a) states that a "law school shall provide academic advising for students that communicates effectively the school’s academic standards and graduation requirements, and that provides guidance on course selection."

Typically, first-year students have little (or no) say in what courses they will take.  Upper-level students, on the other hand, have many different--and sometimes competing--options available to them.  The vast number of different course combinations can be overwhelming to even the most organized law students.  Here are a few tips to help rising 2Ls and 3Ls register for upper-level courses.

Step one: check the law school's website or academic handbook for advising information.  Virtually every law school's website boasts an academic advising section.  For example, the University of California at Irvine's academic advising website offers some good suggestions for course selection:

• Take the classes that interest you the most.
• Take classes from professors you would like to study with, even if the subject matter is not one you think will appeal to you. There are practice fields you have not considered that will actually capture your interest.
• Take classes from professors you enjoyed and whose teaching style matches your learning style.
• Take classes that will give you a strong foundation in the practice field you intend to enter.
• Take a class in an area of law that interests you, even if you never intend to practice in that field.
• Takes classes with a mix of different methods of evaluation (e.g., exams, papers, in-class exercises).
• Take a mix of skills and doctrinal courses.
• Take a broad range of classes. Life is unpredictable. You may discover you do not enjoy the work you do, or business in your practice area may dry up. Choose courses that will expose you to various methodological approaches to the law and that prepare you to be a well-rounded lawyer able to take advantage of opportunities as they appear.

NYU Law's website echoes these same recommendations.  You may also want to consult Professor Jarmon's 2013 "Academic Advising and Registration" blogpost for some additional helpful tips.

Step two: make a list of all the academic requirements needed for graduation.  Check for specific course requirements, minimum/maximum credit limitations both at the semester level and cumulatively, writing or seminar requirements, and concentration requirements.  Put all of that information on a single sheet of paper.   You are welcome to Download Graduation Requirements Checklist that I use at my school and then make adjustments to the document to reflect your school's requirements. 

Step three: create a two-year plan.  Frequently, elective courses are offered during either the fall semester or the spring semester, but not both.  And, some specialty elective courses are only taught once every two years, meaning students will only have one opportunity during their upper-level to enroll in the course. Therefore, it is critical to know when, and how often a course will be offered.  Once you know which courses are offered when, chart them out.  It may feel like a complicated LSAT logic game (e.g. you can't take Wealth Transfers the same semester you that take Family Law), but it's worth the effort.  Again, you are invited to Download 3-Year Course Sequence Planning Worksheet to get the process started.

Step four: take draft versions of your worksheets to your academic advisor and academic support professor for approval.  Once you get the thumbs-up from your academic advisor about the mechanics, turn your attention to the bigger picture - goal setting.  For more information on what that conversation should look like, read Professor Jarmon's 2015 blogpost entitled "The Missing Piece: Academic Advising."  Finally, stop by your Academic Support Professor's Office for some deeper insights.  They are always full of helpful information, especially as it relates to your current academic achievement and future academic goals.  After all, there is a reason that ABA Standard 309 includes academic advising in part (a) and academic support in part (b) of the same rule!  (Kirsha Trychta)

Re-Discover Your Why for Success

Have you ever completed a task you didn’t want to do?  Of course you have.  We all do.  Think about how you felt during the process.  Were you encouraged about the accomplishment or were you just ready for it to be over?  Did the feeling depend on your ultimate end goal?  Grit researcher Dr. Angela Duckworth would suggest passion for the ultimate end goal makes a huge difference in perseverance and success.

Headlines and quick recitations of research indicate grit is a common denominator of successful people.  Individuals, especially stressed and busy law students, can make assumptions about what grit entails based on a common understanding.  Many people, myself included, heard small pieces of information and assumed grit meant hard work and perseverance in face of all obstacles.  However, Dr. Duckworth suggests grit contains more than the common understanding.  She argues perseverance is a major component, but perseverance combined with passion is critical for long-term grittiness.

Dr. Duckworth’s research into passion with perseverance resonates with me.  I love playing golf.  I am not uniquely good at golf, but I continue to play.  After the glory of DST, I can go to the driving range once a week after my kids go to bed.  I set goals and continually try to improve.  However, I only improve about 1 shot a year on average, but I keep working hard on the process.  Contrast golf with my low desire for running.  Running is a great activity, but I tend to get bored and winded.  Some OCU faculty and staff form relay teams to participate in the Oklahoma City Bombing Run to Remember in April.  I participated last year and trained just enough to make it through the 5k leg.  My desire to complete a run associated with the largest tragedy in my community keep me training and helped me complete the race.  After April, I didn’t run again until November to start training for a 10k leg this year because I didn't have a larger reason to overcome my lack of desire to run.  Even now, training is hard.  My body hurts, so I keep making excuses to not follow my regimen.  My desire is low, so I will not put in as much effort as I should.  I also predict I won’t keep running after April again.  Most of my running gains will be lost by next year.

Passion is a critical ingredient to get through law school.  At orientation, I make first-year students write down why he/she wants to be an attorney.  I tell them halfway through the semester they should read their why statement again.  Any time they are stressed or finding classes difficult, I suggest going back to the why statement.  Passion and the why can provide enough motivation to continue through struggles.  No one will like every assignment.  No one will like every class.  Re-reading the reason for attending was to help unrepresented groups or provide a better life for family can be enough to complete the assignment in a way to learn the material to retain it for success on finals and the bar exam.  Combining the why with perseverance can help overcome many of law school's challenges.

Learn how to tap into passion now because it will be critical in the practice of law.  No one will like every deposition, client, case, discovery request, or contract.  Trudging through it without passion won’t provide the best advocacy or work product, and that is not the grit that leads to success.  Finding your passion for the end goal and persevering is what leads to long-term success.

(Steven Foster)

Could the daily planner make a comeback?

People previously carried paper daily planners with them everywhere. They had deadlines, tasks, and more carefully penciled into the planners. No meeting was set or deadline agreed without a check of the person’s hard-copy calendar.

Theoretically, in this digital age, our computer or phone calendaring systems should be serving the same functions. However, so many law students admit they do not calendar anything or, if they do input deadlines/events, they never look at the calendar later.

Here are some tips on using a calendaring system:

• An old-fashioned daily planner may be the best choice. It physically reminds you of the day’s events, tasks, and deadlines. Most planners have daily and monthly calendars in them as well as task lists.
• If you are some type of digital calendaring system, take the time to learn its bells and whistles. What features does it have for repeating events, color coding events, reminder notifications, alarms, and more?
• No calendaring system works if you do not use it/look at it. Start a habit of checking your calendar multiple times each day.
• Check all of your law school course syllabi and enter all deadlines for the semester to avoid surprises.
• Consider setting artificial deadlines to work toward at least two days before the actual deadlines. You then can use the final two days for editing or completing minor tasks.
• For a large project, make a “to do” list of all the tasks needed for completion. Then schedule those tasks throughout the days before the deadline. By spreading the work throughout the time available, it will be less stressful and allow for more reflection time.

Learning how to manage time, organize work, and meet deadlines are all skills that are essential for practicing lawyers. By developing these skills in law school, our students will have less culture shock when they move into the legal workplace. (Amy Jarmon)

Quotes for Law Students Discouraged by Grades

Some law students who chat with me about discouraging grades take the view that this "failure" is permanent and unprecedented among others. Because many of them experienced only good grades before law school, they erroneously think that successful people never fail. They also worry that they cannot bounce back from this "black mark" on the academic record.

Here are some quotes that may help law students get perspective back on their discouraging grades:

• All things good to know are difficult to learn.  Greek proverb
• The expert in anything was once a beginner.  Helen Hayes
• You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals.  Booker T. Washington
• If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time.  Steve Jobs
• Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.  Julie Andrews
• It always seems impossible until it's done.  Nelson Mandela
• Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.  African proverb
• Tough times never last. But tough people do.  Dr. Robert Schuller
• Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.  Guy Finley
• The beginning is always today.  Mary Wollstonecraft

Getting a discouraging grade can lead to evaluating our errors and making permanent improvements that lead to positive future outcomes. (Amy Jarmon)

Assistant Director Position at U of San Diego

Opening at University of San Diego: The position is Assistant Director of Academic Success and Bar Programs, and would join the Director in administering all ASPish programming at USD.  More information can be found here:

https://usdebsprod.sandiego.edu/OA_HTML/OA.jsp?OAFunc=IRC_VIS_VAC_DISPLAY&OAMC=R&p_svid=27022&p_spid=1308594

Fear of the End

      In our created bar support group (link here), candid conversations evolved into the development of two primary camps. Group A includes those who absorb all information and have countless questions. Group B includes those who seem to panic each and every week as new information is presented. Even with the development of these two camps, all students support one another.

      Group A students plan to sit for the bar exam in jurisdictions that administer the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE) and several non-UBE jurisdictions. These students are excited to discuss questions they either asked but did not receive what they consider satisfactory answers or to reaffirm knowledge or concerns. These students take notes, ask a number of great questions, anticipate concerns that I have not even thought about, and appear eager and grateful each and every week. Our pre and post session discussions are vibrant and these students extend the discussions to involve other students who did not opt to join their sessions. This enables me to reach more students without additional programming.

      Group B students generally plan to sit for the bar exam in non-UBE jurisdictions and one UBE jurisdiction. Obviously what exam a student takes is of no consequence because fear is fear. My goal is not to generate fear unless it is motivating for individual students. I encourage students to prepare and anticipate various scenarios throughout bar review so as they arise; students are not shocked but have a plan of attack. With this group of students, after each session they communicate how overwhelmed they are by new information and questions posed. We then discuss why the information may or may not relate to them and how to manage and compartmentalize the new information received. We typically end on a good note.

      For example, a discussion addressing the pros and cons about where to study during bar review, to my surprise, significantly overwhelmed one of the students. Because I am very familiar with the student, we discussed choices she made 1L year and the impact those choices had on her academic performance. We also discussed her transition from undergraduate studies to law school, how ineffective it was for her to study back home over breaks, and highlighted some of the positive choices she made and their impact on her academic performance. She left the conversation with a plan she was comfortable with and we collectively decided it might be helpful for us to check-in after each session to discuss her individual circumstances.

      As a bar support group, we have met seven times thus far and have five more meetings. As students pick-up their caps and gowns and start to receive books and schedules for their bar review program, these are all signs that the end of their law school career is upon them. This leads to a number of conversations about the excitement of graduation, the fear of bar review, and the true end of an educational journey. Education was predictable for many and serves as a safety net but now the realities of “adulting” are quite overwhelming and is probably the source of most of the fear that students in the bar support group experience. Whenever we have candid conversations, the fear of the end of what is familiar and facing the unknown is overwhelming for many. (Goldie Pritchard)

Building a Lightboard

Yesterday Steven Foster mentioned in his blog post entitled SWCASP Takeaways  that I built a lightboard at my law school.  Here are the details, should you wish to do the same.

First, for those who don't know, a lightboard is essentially a glass dry erase board used for creating video recorded lectures and presentations.  You stand behind the glass and lecture, while drawing on the glass board in front of you.  The setup allows you to write on the board without having to turn your back to the audience.  You may be thinking, but isn't the text backwards to the audience?  Yes, it is!  But, through either a specialized camera setup involving a mirror or using post-production software, the images on the glass can be "flipped" so that they appear right-ways to the video viewing audience.

If you'd like to create a lightboard of your own, I recommend buying the frame online and then having the glass cut locally.  We purchased our frame from New Revolution Tools and are happy with the product.  We chose a 4 x 6 frame, on casters, with built-in rope lighting ($1,600).  The frame came with blueprints  and dimensions to help our local glass cutter fit the glass to the frame.  While some lightboards use real glass, we opted for a more cost-effective clear polycarbonate glass, a.k.a. plexiglass.  At just over $500--and one-fifth the price of real glass--the polycarbonate glass allowed this project to stay on budget.

You will also need:

• a video camera,
• a mirror or image reversing software,
• additional stage lighting,
• a dark colored backdrop curtain or wall paint,
• lightboard markers ($20),
• a microfiber cleaning cloth to avoid scratching the glass ($10), and
• white vinegar/water cleaning solution in a spray bottle ($5).

The entire project cost us about $2,500 because we already owned a video camera and some stage lighting.  Additionally, I secured a $2,000 technology grant from our larger University, which brought the out-of-pocket departmental cost down to about $500. 

The lightboard permanently stores against a wall inside a small classroom in the library.  The classroom tables can be moved out of the way for filming.  (See photo below.)

We plan to use the lightboard in a variety of courses, including enhancing our existing online LLM program, creating a few new online summer courses, and developing an on-demand academic support video library.  For the ASP library, I plan on asking students and professors to record 2-10 minute videos addressing both skills and substantive topics.  In the skills category, my wish list already includes case briefing, outlining strategies, study tips, and accommodations FAQs.  On the substantive front, I hope to have a short video that discusses one particularly difficult case in our criminal law textbook, tips for drafting a question presented, and some flowcharts and mindmaps, to name a few.  All of the videos will be housed on a private WVU Law You Tube channel.

If anyone would like additional information on the project, please feel free to reach out to me.  (Kirsha Trychta)

SWCASP Takeaways

Last week's SWCASP workshop at UNT-Dallas was informative once again.  I want to thank everyone who spent time putting the program together and presenting.  I want to personally thank my colleague Jennifer Warren at OCU for taking the lead organizing the event this year.  She worked diligently to put together the slate of speakers and organize the event.  Preyal Shah did an amazing job at UNT Dallas hosting this year’s event.  Lastly, I want to say thank you to all the speakers for preparing such amazing discussions.  Here is my brief synopsis:

Scrapbooking for 1Ls: A Hands-On Approach to Legal Synthesis

Preyal Shah and Jessica Haseltine, UNT Dallas College of Law

Preyal and Jessica demonstrated an excellent exercise to help visual and kinesthetic learners.  They provide students with different sizes of paper that are different colors.  The sizes and color correspond to a hierarchy for outlining diversity jurisdiction.  The exercise is setup like a puzzle.  Students must take their Civ Pro class notes and fill in the rules and then piece together the hierarchy.  After visualizing the structure and context, they transition students to writing essays about diversity.  The exercise was outstanding.  I can’t adequately describe the visual effect of seeing the rule structure.  If you have struggling visual learners, definitely contact Preyal (or anyone attending) for information.

Emerging Adults

Rebecca Flanagan, University of Massachusetts School of Law

Rebecca was amazing, as always.  She explained the characteristics of our new group of students.  The semi-accurate quote that struck me was “Law School is based on students we used to have not the students we have now.”  I definitely agree our students are different now than they were even when I first started in ASP.  Rebecca explained how adulthood is defined by milestones, which can include getting a mortgage or having a full-time career.  Previous generations of students met many of those milestones, but most of our students meet none of the adult milestones.  Her discussion advocated for changing teaching to provide more context, scaffolding, and basic professional skills.  Watch out for Rebecca’s articles as they are published because they will be a great resource for improving our teaching.

Helicopter Professors

Emily Grant, Washburn University School of Law

Emily’s presentation was based on her law review article about Helicopter Professors.  This is an interesting topic.  I felt convicted after listening to her speak because I am probably (most likely) a helicopter professor.  This is also interesting because the research says helicopter parenting is on the rise, and new parents are also our new generation of law professors.  The idea that parenting styles would then enter the classroom makes sense to me.  Helicopter parenting and teaching may not always be bad, but Emily does a great job of demonstrating some of the problems.  I personally always worry that if I am not clearly structuring everything students should be doing on an hourly basis throughout the summer, then students won’t do what is necessary to succeed on the bar.  My strategy may or may not really help students pass the bar, but it is definitely not helping them become an independently motivated attorney.  I need to buy into her quote “Excessive Guidance that hinders learning.”

For Technical Assistance, Please Press 9

Kirsha Trychta, West Virginia University College of Law

Kirsha is definitely more tech savvy than I am.  She provided resources to make ASP work more efficient and fun.  The highlight for me was definitely how to make a lightboard.  If you make videos for students, the lightboard is a fun way to make it more interactive.  Here is the youtube video explaining lightboards.  She was able to make the lightboard for approximately $2,500.  If you want to build one, contact her about her experience.  I plan to setup a meeting with our IT department as soon as I get back to see if this is possible.  She also talked about making her outlook calendar public so students can see whether she is available.  This decreases the number of students emailing or calling asking when she is available.  They can look at her calendar and email for specific appointments.  The aspect I enjoyed was students can’t see the specific appointments, but they can see when she is busy or available. 

Law Success after Year One: Using a Mandatory Skills Curriculum to Tackle Bar Passage Rates

Zoe Niesel and Mike Barry, St. Mary’s University School of Law

Zoe and Mike built a comprehensive ASP program focusing on law school success, bar exam passage, and practice ready skills.  First, I would applaud St. Mary’s for committing the resources to allow Zoe and Mike the ability to build such an extensive program.  They have classes virtually every semester of law school with over 10 faculty and staff in their program.  I loved their 2^nd semester 1L course focused on professionalism and practice ready skills.  They teach client interviewing and business communications among other skills.  Students are grouped in law firms and must interview a simulated client played by a drama school student.  Students then meet with a volunteer local attorney to present a strategy for the simulated client.  I think students interacting with senior attorneys helps build professional skills students will need in the summer after first year.  The contextual learning will also deepen student learning.

 

Great job by all the presenters.  If you are interested in slides, Jennifer Warren from OCU will have all the slides.

(Steven Foster)

Santa Clara Position in Legal Writing and Academic and Bar Success

Santa Clara Law is hiring a full-time professor to teach in both our Legal Writing Department and Office of Academic and Bar Success.  This hybrid position is an 11-month contract with the possibility to renewal, full benefits.  

In the Legal Writing Department, you will teach one section of the year-long Legal Analysis, Research, and Writing course to about 25 first-year students.

As an Assistant Director in the Office of Academic and Bar Success, you will teach one semester-long course that helps students hone their legal analysis and writing skills, with an emphasis on preparing for the California Bar Exam. You will directly counsel students and carry out programming aimed at improving academic performance.

Please review the application here, and please forward to interested colleagues.