Wednesday, October 31, 2018
The Power of Gratitude
A note arrived in my office last week. It said, "Thank you for believing in me when I didn't believe in myself. I do belong here." I doubt the most experienced academic support professional could have received such a message without getting a little misty-eyed. For me, this note helped turn a sad time into a day of joy.
Later that same day, I talked with a law student who has earned a Ph.D. in the university of hard knocks. If ever a person had reason to be embittered by the hand life dealt her, it would be this woman, but instead she radiates joy. She's a true friend to her classmates, the custodians, the dean, and everyone in between. She mentioned keeping a gratitude journal, so I asked about it. She told me the last thing she does every evening is write in a gratitude journal. She keeps each entry short -- just a sentence or two. She said the gratitude journal profoundly affects the way she looks at life. "I won't lie," she said. "Some days it's been hard to write something in there. But even on the worst days there's always something to be grateful for. It makes my life better to think about this every day."
Gratitude transforms lives -- not only the life of the person receiving the thanks, but even more the life of the person who is grateful. Consciously choosing joy can change your outlook on school, work, and life.
Most of us entered law school (whether two months or forty years ago) because we wanted to use the power of the law to help others. But law school and law practice have a way of dragging us down. Stress piles on -- from lower-than-expected evaluations, heavy workloads, pointed critiques, looming deadlines, and the sheer mental effort of constantly being logical and analytical. We end up swathing ourselves in a suffocating miasma of negativity. Our optimistic mission of serving others devolves into a pessimistic, painful grind of grubbing for grades instead of reaching for understanding, of grasping for prestigious positions rather than seeking opportunities to be of service.
Like the penetrating sunshine, consciously practicing gratitude can help dispel the miasma by recharacterizing our experiences. An extra-long homework assignment turns from a chore into an opportunity for effective reading; a heavy work assignment turns from a burden into a chance to practice efficiency. Professors' comments in class turn from cutting criticisms into helpful critiques which will help us become better lawyers; interactions with challenging peers turn from obnoxious situations into practice in people management skills.
In a famous TED talk, Amy Cuddy discusses how adopting a powerful body language can actually help you feel and act empowered. Likewise, consciously spending time being grateful will turn you into a happier, more positive person. In her practical book, A Short & Happy Guide to Being a Law Student, Paula Franzese writes, "Say thank you countless times a day. . . . Your day will move in the direction of your focal point. Focus on the good in your midst and the good to come."
Here's a concrete suggestion for 1Ls worried about fall semester finals -- look forward to your finals with gladness instead of trepidation. After all, you don't have to take exams. You get to take exams. You have the opportunity to strut your stuff by showing your professor -- and yourself -- how much you have learned in a few months and how far you have progressed on the road of thinking, writing, and acting like a lawyer. And that is definitely something worth celebrating. Write it down in your gratitude journal and rejoice in another great day. (Nancy Luebbert)
October 31, 2018 in Advice, Encouragement & Inspiration, Stress & Anxiety | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tuesday, October 30, 2018
IRACs All the Way Down
To lawyers, law students, and professors, the IRAC formula is as commonplace a tool as yellow highlighters or The Blue Book. Some may tout or prefer one of its dozens of variations, particularly in specific situations, but at heart, they all do the same basic job of providing a reliable structure for building an argument. It may take some time for students to internalize that structure and use it consistently. Once they do, however, some students lean on it heavily, as a way of making sure all the expected components of their analysis (Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion) are included. Other students may see it with more anxiety, as a set of expectations imposed by certain professors; they may worry that if they don't use IRAC, they won't receive full credit in their essay responses.
In either case, students can sometimes be stymied when trying to adhere to IRAC format in an essay test response that requires multiple pieces of analysis, like a rule with multiple elements. For example, trying to fit a discussion of a negligence claim into one big IRAC paragraph -- as some students may feel they are required to do -- may start off well, as the student correctly identifies the question of negligence as the issue and the requirement to show duty, breach, causation, and damages as the rule. But then the application section may become messy, as the student tries to write about each element. If more than one element depends on tricky or subtle facts, or if there are multiple arguments and counterarguments to some elements, then the student may struggle to control multiple threads of analysis, without additional structure, in an enormous paragraph that spreads over two or three pages. The student may lose some of those threads, and so might the reader.
This is an unsurprising consequence of the emphasis on sticking to an overall IRAC format: students, for comfort or consistency, might feel compelled to turn every argument into a unitary IRAC. This may be less of a problem for long-term projects, like a legal research and writing memo, where a student may be given more instruction about formatting and will have opportunities to rewrite and edit their essays. But on a timed assignment, like a final exam, the urge to create one big IRAC argument -- or the fear of not doing so -- can slow students down and inhibit clarity.
One way to help students improve their relationships with IRAC is to point out that a well-reasoned argument can have layers of IRACs built into it. The Application portion, after all, is where the meat of the analysis appears, and if that analysis requires that the student examine multiple elements, each element could be discussed in its own separate sub-IRAC paragraph. To use the negligence example:
Issue: Negligence claim
Rule: Duty, Breach, Causation, Damages
Application:
Issue1: Duty
Rule1: [e.g., Obligation to act as reasonably prudent person under circumstances]
Application1: [Application of rule to specific facts]
Conclusion1 re: Duty
Issue2: Breach
Rule2
Application2
Conclusion2 re: Breach
[etc.]
Conclusion re: Negligence claim
This layering of IRACs allows students to take advantage of the order imposed by the format, while still providing the flexibility to address separate sub-issues separately. Theoretically, the layering could continue indefinitely, if certain elements have sub-elements to consider:
Issue3: Causation
Rule3: Actual cause and Proximate cause
Application3:
Issue3A: Actual cause
Rule3A
Application3A
Conclusion3A re: Actual cause
Issue3B: Proximate cause
Rule3B
Application3B
Conclusion3B re: Proximate cause
Conclusion3 re: Causation
This layering of IRACs may not always be the most artful way to organize a legal discussion, but in an exam situation in which students are trying to maximize speed, completeness, and clarity simultaneously, it can provide an efficient way for them to put together a complex analysis.
(Bill MacDonald)
October 30, 2018 in Advice, Exams - Theory, Writing | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, October 29, 2018
Time for Hot Chocolate and Completed Outlines
The leaves are changing and falling. For some, the weather is beautiful. The crisp air makes many want to cuddle up by the fire with hot chocolate and read a fully completed Con Law outline. Well, maybe not the outline part.
All joking aside, now is the time to evaluate your preparedness for finals. The semester flew by, and for most, finals are 4-5 weeks away. You still have classes for 3 weeks, so you don’t get unlimited study time. Analyzing how prepared you are right now and planning for November is critical.
First, check your reading progress. Are you still completing all your class readings? If not, put reading back on your daily schedule. Your professors will test material from the last few weeks of class. If my memory is correct, which is debatable, over half of my classes had material on the final exam from the very last day of instruction. Every day matters, so get back on track reading for each class.
Next, check your outlines. My advice is to complete outlines before reading week. I know many students wait until reading week to finish, but reading week is too late. Working on outlines that week means you aren’t doing practice questions, reviewing the material in depth, or talking with professors about confusing topics. Reading week is most useful for in-depth preparation, not finishing outlines.
Create a plan to finish outlines before Thanksgiving. Look at where you are now with outlines and determine how much time you need to get them up to date. Write down what must happen prior to reading week, which is normally right after Thanksgiving. A good plan is to have outlines up to date before eating turkey and dressing. You will be both better prepared and less stressed out while quietly dozing off to the Lion’s game.
Lastly, analyze your progress on practice questions. Have you completed questions in each of your classes? Have you completed CALI lessons or multiple choice questions? Have you sought feedback on your answers? Make sure to schedule time during November to both write answers and meet with professors for feedback, especially if you haven’t completed questions yet. Feedback is critical to improvement. Professors want to meet with students to help them improve.
The semester is almost over. Now is the time to evaluate where you are and create your plan for November. Enjoy the weather, crisp air, and completed class outlines.
(Steven Foster)
October 29, 2018 in Study Tips - General | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, October 28, 2018
The ASP Clinic Is Open and the Doctor Is In
For the past two weeks I have met many new first-year students. Feedback on midterms, practice questions, or legal practice assignments has begun. So students who previously had thought they did not need assistance - or at least were delaying assistance - have taken the plunge. Some have realized they need better time management routines for more study time. Some have realized they definitely need to start or catch up on outlines. Some have asked about IRAC or multiple-choice assistance. Some have realized that they need to curb procrastination. Some are just anxious and wondering if they should be more or less anxious than they currently are.
Other students, both 1L and upper-division, are returning for 10,000-mile checkups. We are tweaking their previous time management routines for more study time now that they are more efficient and effective at class preparation and outlines. We are exploring the different tasks that all make up exam review. We are discussing how to condense their outlines into attack outlines or how to add visual organizers for some learners. Memory strategies have been a popular topic with these students who have made progress on black letter law, but have a few stumbling blocks. 2Ls and 3Ls are thinking ahead to exam schedules and evaluating courses in that light.
And with both the new and returning students, there are good measures of dispelling rumors about grading for 1Ls (the grapevine is especially bizarre right now), praising progress and wise decisions, and motivating the procrastinators. In some cases I am dispensing tissues, in some cases packets or handouts, and in some I just let them vent before we look for solutions.
The students who are pretty much on target leave with renewed confidence and strategies. The students who are catching up but not in critical shape leave having regrouped. The students who are getting close to a danger zone leave with a reality check and a plan - and usually follow-up appointments.
For now, ASP is a bit like a local medical clinic: some need vitamins or a bandaid; some need an ace bandage or cold remedy; a few need crutches or a walking boot. Right now no epidemics or massive injuries have crossed the threshold.
But I have been doing ASP enough years to know that the triage cases will show up right at the end - just before and after Thanksgiving Break. And like any good ER doctor, I will try everything I can to save the patients. (Amy Jarmon)
October 28, 2018 in Exams - Studying, Stress & Anxiety | Permalink | Comments (0)
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Contracts as the Quintessential 1L Course
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Otto Stockmeyer (Western Michigan University Cooley Law School) is a regular reader and occasional guest blogger here at the Law School Academic Support Blog. I happened to notice a post from Cooley about a 2017 paper he had presented making his case for contracts; the post includes a link for the full paper text.
We all vividly remember Hawkins v. McGee from our own law school 1L days (as well as from Paper Chase). I think his 10 kudos for the case and contracts are good points - even though I will admit that contracts was not my personal 1L favorite. His post is found here. (Amy Jarmon)
October 27, 2018 in Weblogs | Permalink | Comments (0)
Friday, October 26, 2018
Lawyering Skills and Strategies with Bar Prep Emphasis Position at Houston Law
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Link to position: https://uhs.taleo.net/careersection/ex2_uhf/jobdetail.ftl?job=FAC000696&tz=GMT-05%3A00
October 26, 2018 in Jobs - Descriptions & Announcements | Permalink | Comments (0)
Save the Date for the AASE 2019 Conference: May 21-23
Link to information on the conference is: 2019 AASE Conference in Seattle
October 26, 2018 in Meetings | Permalink | Comments (0)
Registration for the WCCASP Conference
Come join us in beautiful San Diego this November 2 for our single-day event, the annual West Coast Consortium of Academic Support Professionals conference
Registration is free thanks to Themis, and will include lunch and our post-conference event!
See the conference agenda attached to this email
Hotel Information:
We were able to solidify a rate with the Holiday Inn Express, but it is based on availability.
Below is a breakdown of the prices which were rated for our conference attendees. In order to receive this rate, you must contact Elizabeth Ming by calling her at 619.795.7705 ex 705 or
emailing her at [email protected]. Please make sure to contact her as soon as possible if you wish to take advantage of this deal.
Please find the available room types and rates below:
One king bed standard- $139.00
Two Queen Beds- $ 159.00
Two Queen Beds Suites - $ 179.00
Rates will include:
Complimentary Hot Breakfast Buffet
Complimentary Wireless Access Internet
Outdoor Pool
Fitness Room
Free Parking
If you wish to stay at another hotel, we ask that you please make your own arrangements.
Program for the conference: Download WCCASP 2018 Program
October 26, 2018 in Meetings | Permalink | Comments (0)
Thursday, October 25, 2018
Rabbit Trails and Exam Writing - A Concrete Tip to Improve Exam Analysis
My dog loves rabbit trails. Luckily for the rabbits, at least thus far, the trails have never led to rabbits.
That got me thinking about exam writing and rabbit trails.
But first, a bit of background...
I find that most bar exam takers who do not pass the bar exam write brilliantly well-organized professional essay answers. The rules are crisp; the IRAC is polished. But, in most cases, some of the answers are unresponsive to the fact patterns at hand. In other words, its as though the fact patterns were irrelevant to answering some of the particular essay questions. Instead of finding the "rabbits" in the essays, they followed "rabbit trails" leading to no where. And, it's often that way on law school exams too.
Take this summer's first essay question on the Uniform Bar Exam (UBE), available free-of-charge at https://www.ncbex.org/July2018Essays.
The fact problem was set in the world of constitutional law. As specified in the fact problem, the essay expressly indicated that US Supreme Court had recently found that Congress was within its power under the interstate commerce clause (ICC) to punish marijuana use. On the other hand, the fact problem indicated that a number of states were (and have) legalized marijuana use both for medicinal purposes and recreational purposes.
Frustrated by state decriminalization of marijuana, the fact pattern specified that Congress enacted a federal drug abuse prevention statute. Pertinent to the essay problem, one section of the statute required state law enforcement officers to investigate whether anyone within their custody, even on matters unrelated to controlled substance violations, was under the influence of marijuana and then make reports to the federal government. The other section of the statute, as specified in the fact pattern, provided that Congress would restrict federal law enforcement grants to states which decriminalized marijuana use. The fact pattern went on to indicate that a State had recently decriminalized marijuana use and would therefore be subject to a loss of approximately $10 million dollars in annual federal grant money out of a state budget of about $600 million total of state law enforcement spending. Based on this fact pattern, bar exam applicants were told to analyze whether each of these two statutes were constitutional as applied to this particular state's situation.
Let's deal with the first statutory section - the federal requirement ordering state law enforcement officers to conduct investigations and make reports. The key to figuring out where to go, i.e., to avoid the "rabbit trail," was to write out a good issue statement, perhaps as follows:
"The issue is whether Congress had constitutional authority when it requires state law enforcement officers to conduct investigations and make reports unrelated to state law enforcement purposes."
In this fact pattern, there's no issue that Congress did not have the commerce clause power because the fact pattern foreclosed that issue, once and for all, with its initial recognition of US Supreme Court precedent specifying that Congress had the power to regulate marijuana use. And, if Congress has the power to regulate marijuana use, it certainly has powers related to that under the "necessary and proper" clause. So, the focus must be elsewhere in answering this problem. As the issue statement makes clear, it's a federalism issue, namely, whether Congress can force states to do the work of the federal government. That's a 10th Amendment issue. In brief, Congress is limited in its ability to commandeer the states, which is precisely what this first section tries to do. It's unconstitutional, at least in my reading of it.
Let's take on the second statutory section - the federal spending restriction of law enforcement grants towards states that decriminalize marijuana. Once again, the key is to start with a sharp issue to avoid the "rabbit trails." Here, we might write as follows:
"The issue is whether Congress had constitutional authority when - as applied to the state at hand in this fact pattern - Congress cut off a federal law enforcement grant in the amount of $10 million out of a state budget of $600 million in state law enforcement spending."
Do you see the issue? It's lurking in the facts stated in the issue statement. Once again, this is a federalism issue. There's no issue that Congress can't spend money for the public welfare, particularly because the state in this fact pattern wants to receive the federal grant money. Rather, the issue is whether these "strings" constitute commandeering of the states by Congress in violation of the 10th Amendment. One could probably come out either way, but I think that the better answer based on Supreme Court precedent is that spending restrictions to encourage states to enact policies and law that comport with federal law are constitutional as long as states have a real choice as to whether to enact new favorable state laws to the federal government or give up the spending grants. In this fact pattern, the amount of money that the state will lose as a result of decriminalization of marijuana is only a small percentage of the entire amount that the state spends on law enforcement, which means that the state has a real meaningful choice to take the federal grant and comply with federal objectives or to refuse the federal grant and still have significant state law enforcement funding. It's constitutional, at least in my analysis.
Despite the fact that this essay problem was centered on federalism issues based on the 10th Amendment, a number of people talked about the commerce clause or equal protection concerns, neither of which were raised by the fact pattern. I can understand why. Bar takers have memorized so much law that they tend to put all of the law that they can think of without thinking through the problem first of all, especially because of the time pressures. But, I have a tip that can help preempt that sort of "rule dump." It's writing out an old-fashioned legal writing issue statement before beginning to write.
Here's what I mean by an old-fashioned issue statement. As set out by Ruta Stropus and Charlotte Taylor in their book "Bridging the Gap Between College and Law School," a great issue statement can take on the form as follows:
"The issue is whether [legal subject-verb-object] + when + [material facts]."
Take a look back at my issue statements. Do I start with the legal issue? Do I have the legal actor as a noun, a verb, and the legal object, here, as to the unconstitutionality of congressional action? Do I then add in a handful of hand-picked material facts from the fact pattern? You bet. In my own case, if I don't take time to work through crafting such an issue statement, I'm lost in most essay problems. I just start writing in circles, moving around in "rabbit trails" so to speak, without really understanding the fact pattern at hand or the questions presented in the essay scenario. In short, I ramble.
So, whether you are a bar taker or a law student preparing for mid-term exams, take a pause before you begin to write out your essays. Hunt for some "red hot" material facts to put down in paper as an issue statement. After all, it's what lawyers do best; they spot issues, the precise issues that are needed for solving their clients' problems. So, as you learn to think like a lawyer, practice like a lawyer too by taking time out to craft, identify, and precisely specify the exact issues posed in your midterms, final exams, or your bar exam essays. It's worth the time. Indeed, you'll be mighty glad because you'll find that you'll avoid the "rabbit trails" found on most essay exams and instead you'll be finding the rabbits themselves. (Scott Johns).
October 25, 2018 in Advice, Bar Exam Issues, Bar Exam Preparation, Encouragement & Inspiration, Exams - Studying, Stress & Anxiety, Study Tips - General | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Lawyerly Skill of Asking for Help
With apologies to T.S. Eliot, April is not the cruellest month -- October is, at least for first-year law students. The first heady glow and excitement of arriving at law school has faded. Many students experience the shock of no longer being straight-A students as legal writing and midterm grades roll in. The workload steadily increases, as do professors' expectations. For 1Ls who feel like they are barely treading water to keep up with class preparation, it seems downright oppressive to hear they should be adding practice problems, outlining, and other long-term study methods to their weekly schedule, not to mention attending professional events and polishing their resumes to apply for summer internships and externships. Added into this evil brew can be depression, anxiety, substance abuse, loneliness, or any number of other reactions to stress.
What's a 1L to do? The first thing, as Dean Jarmon observed last week, is put aside perfectionism and instead focus on realistic goals. Establish routines, whether you do so by sheer will power, calendaring, habit stacking as discussed by Professor Foster, using resolutions charts, or some other method.
But what if, after all your diligent work, you still feel lost, or confused, or overwhelmed, or panicked? What do you do?
Ask for help.
Many law students are reluctant to ask for help because they think it shows weakness. Nothing could be further from the truth. Asking for help is a professional skill which good lawyers practice constantly. An associate asks a partner for advice on how to handle a particular client. A lawyer consults the clerk of the court in advance to ensure filings are done correctly. An experienced lawyer calls bar counsel for advice when a thorny ethical issue emerges. A lawyer who recognizes that anxiety disorder is affecting her/his performance gets in touch with the state's Lawyer Assistance Program. All of these are everyday examples of lawyers asking for help. Appropriately asking for help sends the message, "I care enough about this to spend time learning to do it the best way I can, and I value your expertise."
If you are experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis, ask for help as soon as you realize you have a problem. While you can go straight to your institution's counseling center or your state's Lawyer Assistance Program, it is also appropriate to talk with any trusted person at your law school. Not only do they know you personally, but many faculty and staff have taken Mental Health First Aid training and are equipped to assist you. Likewise, talk with someone immediately if illness, injury, or major family issues have affected or may affect your ability to do the work of a law student. You will get not only a sympathetic ear but also practical suggestions.
Be just as professional in asking for help as you are in other aspects of law school life. Figure out what you need and frame your request narrowly. Professors don't react well to a student coming into office hours saying, "I don't get torts," but they will gladly work with you if you narrow your problem to "I've gone over the casebook and the CALI lessons, but I'm still confused about the causation rules involving multiple actors." In particular, your academic support professor is an invaluable resource to help you balance the academic demands of law school with the equally compelling demands of being a whole human being.
Most faculty and staff are not only willing but happy to help you if you are respectful of them and the demands on their time. But one circumstance bears special mention -- what we call "forum shopping" at my law school. Forum shopping occurs when a student asks one faculty or staff member for help but doesn't like the advice s/he receives. Without telling anyone that s/he asked another person first, the student then asks the identical question to a second person, and sometimes a third and a fourth. Forum shopping shows an extreme lack of respect for faculty and staff. Not only does the first person feel disrespected, but subsequent helpers can waste hours of time starting from ground zero when they don't know what guidance you've already received. Don't be afraid to seek multiple perspectives -- just let everyone know who you've asked and what advice you received.
Finally, don't forget to thank people for the help they've given you. This, too, is a mark of professionalism. (Nancy Luebbert)
October 25, 2018 in Advice, Encouragement & Inspiration, Stress & Anxiety, Study Tips - General | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Guest Blogger Post 1: Louis Schulze
Hello ASP blog readers! I want to thank Prof. Jarmon and the ASP Blog editors for letting me join in the discussion. I look forward to posting some hopefully thought-provoking posts, perhaps challenging some pedagogical orthodoxy along the way. I will be addressing topics mostly focused on the intersection of legal education and the science of learning. For instance, I will be discussing whether the use of Learning Styles Theory is justified, whether cognitive science suggests that we should abolish law school “supplements,” and how ASP and bar prep faculty can mitigate the degree to which certain aspects of legal education re-entrench privilege.
I should also acknowledge my colleague Prof. Raul Ruiz. Prof. Ruiz teaches FIU Law’s bar preparation courses and incorporates in his pedagogy many of the most effective aspects of educational psychology and cognitive science. His teaching has had an enormous impact on our students’ bar exam success, and his helpful critiques have helped me sharpen the ideas that follow.
Again, my thanks to the Law School Academic Support Blog crew.
October 24, 2018 in Guest Column | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tuesday, October 23, 2018
A Marvelous Thing
Academic support professionals are often required to be observant, creative, and meticulous under demanding circumstances. Sometimes it helps to take inspiration from unexpected places:
The world was at war. It was 1943, and the United States was stretched across two oceans, trying to protect its merchant fleet while fighting at sea against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Shipyards were working around the clock to build new and better ships.
In one such facility on the Delaware River, in Philadelphia, Dick James was trying to solve a problem. He was a mechanical engineer, and his task was to develop a support system from which to suspend delicate shipboard instruments, to keep them stable when a ship was in rough seas. He was working with tension springs, and at one point he accidentally struck one that was sitting coiled on a shelf. The spring arched over, planted itself on top of some books stacked nearby, flipped end over end and arched again onto the table on which the books were sitting, and then flipped again to stream in another arch over the edge of the table and onto the floor.
Anyone else in that room might not have noticed the spring's behavior, or, if they had, might only have responded with an amused chuckle and promptly forgotten about it. But James saw something in the way the spring had practically stepped from level to level, like an animated pair of britches. He wasn't sure what it was good for, and he soon discovered that he could not reproduce it reliably. But he sensed it was something, and something that hadn't been seen before. When he got home that day, he told his wife Betty about it and declared that he was going to find the right kind of steel and the right degree of tension to create a spring that could walk.
Dick James was on his way to inventing the Slinky, the perennially wonderful toy that still sells well, 75 years after that first accidental demonstration. What I find inspiring about this story is not just the fact that James observed something new and thought it was worth considering simply because it was new, and not just the fact that he pondered the possibilities of the new phenomenon without knowing exactly where they would lead him. What's inspiring for me personally is that James recognized that he would have to put in some serious work to make a spring that could walk, and that he undertook all that effort without a clear end result in mind at the start. He experimented for over a year, using different types of steel-alloy wire wound in coils of various sizes and tensions, and as he worked, he and his wife worked out what they wanted their end product to be: a toy with a name that connotes graceful movement and with properties that would allow it to stride down inclined planes and stairs.
James continued working on warships, because that was his job and it mattered. But during his off hours, he kept testing and measuring and winding and cutting, and with his wife planned how to package and market and sell his new invention, until finally in November of 1945, a couple of months after the end of the war, experimentation and application came together in a demonstration at Gimbel's Philadelphia department store -- a Slinky, walking down a ramp set up in the middle of the store, surrounded by children and parents. Within 90 minutes, James sold out his entire inventory.
Sometimes, in academic support, in the midst of putting out fires and ministering to students in distress and trying to build stable platforms that will keep our students steady even in rough seas, we might notice something out of the ordinary -- an odd pattern to student responses, an exercise format that isolates a particular skill, a certain stimulus that alters behavior or affect -- perhaps something that most other people would not recognize as unusual. We don't have to discard such observations if their usefulness is not immediately obvious. Sometimes, it makes sense to start refining a tool first, and then take advantage of that time spent in development to uncover what the tool might best be used for.
(Bill MacDonald)
October 23, 2018 in Advice, Encouragement & Inspiration, Miscellany | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, October 22, 2018
Habit Stacking to Create Lasting Change
Have you ever decided to eat healthy, exercise, or do some other generally good action only to fail within a few days? If not, then you are awesome and can go back to studying. However, if you are like me, then you struggle to create new habits. I resolve to eat healthy and not drink Dr. Pepper every Sunday night, but by Monday around 1:30, I eat whatever I have time for and drink a Dr. Pepper. Forming new habits is hard, but the simple trick of habit stacking may be able to help.
Habits form and continue based on cues. Some people smell donuts or see a Starbucks and immediately crave the item. Everyone has tons of habits we go through each day to automate our lives. Habits make life manageable. As law students, studying becomes a habit. Studying in a particular spot at a particular time is a habit. The spot could be a comfy couch with electronic distractions everywhere or a quality desk with no noise. The goal is to create study cues that can help with focus, concentration, and understanding.
James Clear has great resources for creating habits at https://jamesclear.com/articles. I plan to try to implement his habit stacking idea and encourage students to attempt it as well. Habit stacking is a way to form new habits. He says to make a list of current habits. I would encourage students to make a list of current study habits. List when, where, how long, and anything that triggers studying. I would also suggest students create a list of desired study habits. The key is to write it down to help plan the habit stacking.
The next step in habit stacking is to link desired habits with ones already occurring. If I know that I heat up my lunch every day at the microwave, I can then use the microwave as a cue to refill my water bottle or use the Kuerig next to the microwave to make tea. The idea is to attach the new activity to one already on autopilot. The new habit is easier to maintain when it is next in line of a string of tasks. You can also insert new habits between two existing ones. Habit stacks can make new activities or choices easier to maintain.
For students, I suggest a handful of activities for you to consider for habit stacks. My suggestions assume you are setting aside enough time to read and understand the material. After reading, write down the 3 biggest takeaways. Explain how the reading relates to previous material and draft 2-3 questions for class. Do that prior to closing the casebook. After writing that last question, then close the book. Closing the book is a cue homework is finished, so add in the thinking exercise prior to that cue.
Pre-reading activities are good habits to form. After sitting down to study, open the book, and then write down what you think the reading will be about. Write down any questions from the previous reading and class. After that, start reading. Opening the book is an existing cue to start working. Sandwiching pre-reading between opening the book and starting the reading will build that habit.
Reviewing after class is a good stacking exercise. Once class is over, many students close their book and leave class. My suggestion is to stay seated and leave your book open. Write down the main takeaways and any questions or confusing topics from class. Also, write down where in the outline or big picture of the class you think this fits. Finally, close your book after writing everything down.
Lastly, consider where to stack practice questions and/or quizzes. Find time immediately after dinner or between 2 other activities where quizzing, CALI lessons, or other assessments will fit. It could be get to class, open your laptop, and complete a quick quiz. Anything that helps stack the habit.
Creating new habits is difficult, but connecting the new habit to something you already do could make small changes that have big impacts.
(Steven Foster)
October 22, 2018 in Study Tips - General | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, October 21, 2018
Welcome Guest Blogger: Louis Schulze
Louis Schulze will be joining the Blog as a regular guest blogger over the coming months. We are excited that he will be joining us in this capacity. If you have not previously had the pleasure of meeting Louise at AASE, AALS, or other conferences, here is some information about him:
Louis Schulze is Assistant Dean and Professor of Academic Support at Florida International University College of Law. He and his colleague Prof. Raul Ruiz run the law school's Academic Excellence Program, in which Louis teaches academic support and Raul directs the bar preparation program. FIU Law's students have placed first in bar passage rate in five of the last six Florida bar exams. Dean Schulze teaches Introduction to the Study of Law, Legal Reasoning, and Legal Analysis. His scholarly work focuses on the potential impact of educational psychology and cognitive science on legal education. A few of his articles can be found HERE and HERE.
Dean Schulze has lectured to students and presented scholarly works at law schools across the country, including Columbia Law School and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He has served on the executive committees of the AALS Section on Academic Support, the Association of Academic Support Educators, and the AALS Section on Empirical Studies of Legal Education and the Legal Profession. He is happy to talk to anyone who will listen about the Boston Bruins, New England Patriots, and Boston Red Sox.
(Amy Jarmon)
October 21, 2018 in Academic Support Spotlight | Permalink | Comments (0)
Saturday, October 20, 2018
Are you being sabotaged by perfectionism?
A perfectionism epidemic has broken out at most law schools across the country. It is the time in the semester when many students spin their wheels in studying because perfectionism has them in its grip. First-year students suffer acutely; but upper-division students are not immune.
The symptoms may vary, but the underlying perfectionism is there. Here are some of the symptoms I see regularly:
- Spending an exorbitant amount of time preparing for class because "I don't understand every bit of every case yet."
- Copying large chunks of case language into a case brief because "I may not state it as well as the judicial opinion."
- Getting less than 6 (in some cases way less) hours of sleep each night because "I haven't finished everything to the standard I want."
- Feeling paralyzed about starting course outlines because "I have never outlined before and may get it wrong."
- Filling tome-like outlines with total trivia because "I may leave out something important."
- Avoiding practice questions because "I don't know everything yet."
- Abandoning completion of practice questions because "I didn't get them all right."
- Despairing over an average grade on a quiz because "I should have gotten an A."
- Continuing to research after the exact same sources are found because "There may be something out there that I missed."
- Procrastinating because "It won't be perfect and starting late gives me an excuse for it being less than perfect."
Perfectionism makes people miserable. No human will ever be perfect. Our students come with histories of success: high grades; superb recommendations; trophies; accolades for A-Z. Many of them have minimum experience with being less than perfect (or at least appearing perfect). Consequently, it is hard to settle for excellent or very good instead of perfect.
One of my law professors warned me my first semester of law school that I would never feel that I had done everything that could be done. There would always be one more case I could read, one more edit of a draft I could do, one more practice problem I could complete, one more study aid I could check, and so forth. He warned that perfect was not the goal - the best I could do under the circumstances for that day was all I could ask of myself.
He was right - not only about law school, but also about legal practice. We could spend 24/7 and still feel as though there was more we could do.
We need to put aside perfectionism before it gives us sleepless nights, ulcers, migraine headaches, and more physical souvenirs. We need to refuse perfectionism's cocktail of shame, guilt, worry, frustration, and depression.
So, let's embrace accomplishing what we can to our best ability today under today's circumstances:
- Set a realistic number of goals for today.
- Prioritize those goals as very important, important, least important and finish them accordingly.
- Set a realistic time allotment for each goal and stick to it rather than push for perfect.
- Recognize today's circumstances and work realistically within them: deadlines, appointments, personal illness, etc.
- Refuse to equate your human imperfections with failure.
- Make a new "to do" list for tomorrow and realize tomorrow is another day to do your best.
- Get a good night's sleep: you will be more alert, focused, and productive for tomorrow's tasks.
(Amy Jarmon)
October 20, 2018 in Miscellany, Stress & Anxiety, Study Tips - General | Permalink | Comments (0)
Friday, October 19, 2018
Position at Washburn Law
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law/Assistant Director of Academic Support and Bar Passage
(Recruitment No. 18-001037)
Washburn University's School of Law invites applications for the position of Visiting Assistant Professor
of Law. This is a full-time, non-tenure track faculty position that serves as the assistant director of
academic support and bar passage. The successful candidate will begin as soon as possible but no later
than August 2019. The ideal candidate will have law school teaching experience, and/or experience
teaching in a law school academic support program.
Required Qualifications
• Juris Doctor degree from an ABA approved law school.
• Successful passage of a bar exam.
Preferred Qualifications
• Strong academic record . .
• Experience teaching in and managing a law school academic support program.
• Experience making oral presentations.
• Experience remediating complex legal rules.
• Excellent written communication and legal writing skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks and meet deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to work with a diverse student body and work collaboratively with faculty
and staff.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
• Law practice experience.
• Experience using TWEN, D2L, Microsoft Office Suite, and Banner.
Responsibilities
The Visiting Assistant Professor of Law will assist in the implementation of programs designed to
improve the critical skills necessary for students to succeed in law school, on the bar exam, and in
practice. The Visiting Assistant Professor will:
• Teach academic skills or bar readiness courses;
• Work one on one with students on academic probation or at academic risk to help them develop
habits and methods to improve their academic performance;
• Conduct skills enhancement workshops and small group tutoring sessions;
• Provide academic support to LLM students;
• Maintain data for performance tracking and other assessment tools;
• Complete assessment projects as assigned by the program director;
• Assist with the coordination and delivery of bar preparation initiatives;
• Coach and support students and alumni as they prepare for bar exams;
• Offer active learning workshops on bar essay writing and multiple choice test taking skills;
• Read and critique student practice essays and provide feedback to assist in further essay
development and improvement;
• Stay current about trends and developments in the uniform and multistate bar exams; and
• Perform additional tasks as assigned by the academic support program director or associate
dean for academic affairs.
Application Procedures
Application review will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Send a letter of
interest, resume, and the names and contact information of three professional references to
[email protected] or Kerri Pelton, Washburn University, 1700 SW College Ave, Topeka, KS
66621. Salary range is $65,000 to $70,000 commensurate with experience and qualifications. Washburn
provides an excellent fringe benefits package. The successful candidate will be required to submit to a
background check prior to hire.
The Washburn campus is located in the heart of Topeka, Kansas, blocks from the state capitol. Topeka
has been named a Top Ten City in Kiplinger's magazine. Topeka features affordable housing with
beautiful, historic neighborhoods filled with well-maintained parks, and is the home of the Brown v.
Board of Education historical site. Topeka is also conveniently located near Kansas City making it an
ideal place to live and work.
Washburn is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) and dedicated to providing a student-centered and
teaching focused academic environment and a curriculum that engages the diversity of human
experience across the globe. We seek candidates who are committed to Washburn's efforts to create a
climate that fosters the growth and development of a diverse student body, and we encourage
applications from members of groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education.
Application materials should clearly articulate how the candidate will contribute to the University's
commitment to diversity and inclusion through their teaching, research, and/or service.
Washburn University provides equal access to and opportunity in its programs, facilities, and
employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, disability, sex, sexual
orientation, gender identity, genetic information, veteran status, or marital or parental status.
October 19, 2018 in Jobs - Descriptions & Announcements | Permalink | Comments (0)
Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Ramping Up the "To Do" List -- A Resolutions Chart
Wisely stewarding our precious 168 hours a week is a key to thriving in law school and in life. Ideally we should create realistic schedules that cover both short-term and long-term projects, giving ourselves appropriate intermediate deadlines and devoting the planned amount of time to the activities we have identified. Dennis Tonsing's 1000 Days to the Bar gives a very detailed, helpful, and realistic approach for doing this in the chapter on time management. Both his text and sample schedule emphasize that weekly attention to outlining, flow charts, and practice hypos is as important as preparing for class. I regularly recommend this chapter and its approach to my students.
Alas, scheduling in this manner doesn't work for everyone. (No system does.) When I talk with students about scheduling, many proclaim, "Schedules don't work for me; I make a daily "to-do" list." But the standard "to-do" list tends to be an undifferentiated mishmash of immediate needs that usually neglects long-term projects. Those who rely on daily lists rather than a weekly schedule are often focused on class preparation to the exclusion of systematic course review and exam preparation.
Most of us have seen or used a priority matrix (sometimes called an "Eisenhower decision matrix") that divides tasks into quartiles (important and urgent, important and not urgent, not important but urgent, and not important and not urgent). People tend to react strongly to these: they find them either incredibly useful or highly annoying. I fall into the latter camp; so do most of the list-makers among my students. How, then, to focus them on long-term goals?
Inspired by a blog post by Anita Dhake, a former big firm lawyer who retired in her thirties to travel and write, I started using a resolutions chart. Anita titled her post "The most valuable habit I ever adopted," and I'm finding this is true for me as well. Indeed, I have two resolutions charts now -- one for building good habits at home and one for building good habits at work. The resolution chart supplements the planner or to-do chart and provides an affirming method of building good habits and tracking progress toward long-term goals.
Here's the method (cribbed from Anita's happy original post): Start a spreadsheet. Across the top, write five or so resolutions that will make your life better by adopting the habits every day (or every work/school day). These can be a mixture of super-simple and more challenging. Students might include "Check syllabus assignments" (super-easy) and "Write answer to 10+ minute hypo" (more challenging and more subject to procrastination). My work resolutions chart currently includes "Check in library books" (super-easy, but something I often forget to do) and "Grade homework" (more challenging and much more subject to procrastination). Put in a row for every day of the month. Print out your sheet.
Look at your resolution chart daily to remind yourself of the habits you are trying to establish. Then, before bedtime, or leaving school or the office, take out your resolutions chart. Give yourself a gold star or a smiley face (or something similar that makes you happy) for every resolution that you accomplished. Accomplishing the easy goals helps you build your confidence; accomplishing a harder goal helps you to establish great habits. On days that you don't do the resolution, give yourself a number: a 1 the first time, a 2 the second time, and so on. This helps keep you honest! At the end of the month, score yourself. If you missed three days, you still get an A. Missing up to 6 days garners a B and 7-9 days gives you a C. Miss more than 9 days? -- you'll go on probation with a D. Don't feel bad about your "grade" -- celebrate your accomplishments and be honest about your challenges. And that in itself is a great accomplishment. (Nancy Luebbert)
October 17, 2018 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Tuesday, October 16, 2018
Threats and Challenges in Law School
Final exams. Olympic competition. Oral argument. Job interviews. The bar examination. These are all high-stakes experiences, often competitive, in which successful outcomes depend on strong performance. As discussed last week, in such situations the human brain can adopt different chemical and behavioral states, depending on whether the situation is perceived as a threat or as a challenge. In a threat situation, the brain becomes hyper-alert to danger and error, processes information more deliberately, and shies away from risk. In a challenge situation, the brain pays less attention to detail, processes information in a more relaxed and automatic way, and is open to taking risks that have sufficient promise of reward. How can we use our knowledge of these two mental states, not just to understand our students better, but also to help them do better?
Let's start by noting that the brain can enter these different states at different times even if it is undertaking the exact same activity. A baseball player might step up to the plate in the third inning and see his task -- to try to get a hit -- as a challenge, and the same player could step to the same plate, even holding the same baseball bat, in the ninth inning and see it as a threat. So it's not the task itself that determines our mental state. It's the surrounding circumstances. Early in the game, when the outcome is still up in the air, a player may be "gain-oriented", focusing on accruing advantages (in this case, runs), and his brain will be in challenge mode. In the last inning, though, if his team has a slim lead, that same player could shift his focus and become "prevention-oriented", focusing on maintaining his team's lead by not making mistakes of which the other team might take advantage. In that case, his brain will be in threat mode.
In the same way, our students can undertake the same activity -- issue spotting, say, or answering multiple-choice questions -- at different times, and might find themselves in either challenge mode or threat mode. This is a good thing, a useful thing. After all, human brains evolved to be capable of these two modes, so each mode ought to have some beneficial qualities.
As Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman point out in Top Dog, in an academic setting there can be an optimal sequencing to these modes. Students perform best if they start their semester working in challenge mode and end it working in threat mode.
This makes sense in a general way. At the beginning of a course, students don't know much about the subject, and their goal should be to try to gain knowledge and skill as quickly as possible. A gain orientation is associated with challenge mode -- the brain plays hunches and takes educated guesses, because the risk (primarily, to grades) is low but the potential reward (flashes of insight) is high. Towards the end of the course, though, risk increases, as the student faces more heavily weighted final exams. At the same time, rewards are lessened, since (ideally) the student has already internalized most of the material and is not likely to learn a great deal more. On a final exam, a student is more likely to be in threat mode -- pondering the answer more slowly and cautiously, less inclined to make risky arguments, perhaps even debating word choice as he tries to recall the exact wording of a rule.
If a student is well-prepared for the final exam, proceeding cautiously with their mind in threat mode may be quite favorable. It can encourage methodical analysis, and help the student avoid unnecessary errors. However, there are two potential issues to consider.
First, as alluded to above, there are two sources of risk and reward in law school. One is the knowledge and understanding of the subject matter, and the other is the final grade in the class. A student who downplays either source is at a disadvantage. Reminding students to pay attention to learning the rules and how to use them, and to developing their test-taking skills at the same time, is part of what Academic Success is about. Being able to describe these abilities as complementary sources of risk and reward may provide us with another way of doing that.
Second, while being in threat mode may help a student avoid errors, they still may not perform well if they only enter threat mode for the first time in the final exam. Since threat mode slows analysis and limits the options the brain is willing to consider, it can change the way people behave during exams. We have doubtless all had students who felt confident in a subject all semester and then did poorly on their final, later explaining that they thought of some of the correct responses but abandoned them because they were afraid they might be wrong, and that they spent so much time working on the first half of the exam that they didn't have time to complete the second half. While there are several plausible explanations for such mistakes, one possibility for them to consider is that they had never practiced answering questions in that course in threat mode. If all of their practice was under the speedier, more relaxed challenge mode, then they had never really practiced under exam conditions.
Ideally, humans would have a switch we could activate to shift from challenge mode to threat mode and back. But, while we don't, it is nevertheless possible for professors to influence students and help shift them into threat mode. As Bronson and Merryman explain, teachers can affect their students' brains just by changing the way they present their examinations. If students are given a test and told that they will receive a certain number of points for every correct answer, then they focus more on the idea of gaining points, which encourages a gain orientation and thus a challenge mode. If, on the other hand, students are given a test and told that their scores start at 100 and that they will lose a certain number of points for every correct answer, then they focus more on not losing points, which encourages a prevention orientation and a threat mode. Even though mathematically the two scoring systems were identical, the differences in presentation caused measurable differences in performance.
Thus, one way to encourage our students to practice for final exams (and oral arguments, bar exams, etc.) in threat mode is to explain, in advance, that you will be scoring their practice work by subtracting points from a pre-determined maximum score. Conversely, students who fall into threat mode too early in the semester, perhaps because they are disproportionately worried about grade risk, might be coaxed towards challenge mode by being given exercises for which they will receive a certain number of points for every plausible point or argument. Even though the tasks the students are undertaking remain the same, we can help their brains approach them differently.
October 16, 2018 in Advice, Bar Exam Preparation, Encouragement & Inspiration, Exams - Studying, Science, Study Tips - General, Teaching Tips | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday, October 15, 2018
Updated Report on Learning
The National Academies recently released an update to their previous book How People Learn. The original book from 1999 provided critical findings on what factors affect learning in the classroom. Many of the new ideas in law schools have parallels in the book. New research since 1999 necessitated an update, so they produced a new report.
The update expands on a few ideas from the first book. The report still encourages “student centered learning,” and it discusses the cultural contexts to learning. However, the recent technology invasion changed our current students. The new book addresses some of the technology issues when teaching.
Chapter 6 focuses on student motivation. The book addresses student self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, goals, and the influence of teachers on those factors. Culture and influence also have effects on motivation. Motivation is a huge problem with some law students. Many of us believe our students would perform better with just a little more hard work. The key is figuring out how to get them to do more work. This information could be helpful for encouraging more work.
I haven’t read the new report yet, but the information looks promising. I encounter problems with technology and motivation every bar prep period. Similar to many of you, we have many students right around the cut score every exam period. Any information that can help us gain a few points could make a huge impact.
The one glaring problem is the report isn’t specific to law school. It is largely for primary and secondary education. As Rebecca Flanagan discussed at SWCASP last year, learning theories based on research on children may not have the same effects on adults. Adult learning may require changes to our techniques. The report is probably still a good resource for new ideas, but the ideas may not work the same with adults.
The Education Week article referencing the report is here. You can get a free copy of the new report here. While long, I hope to pull good information from the report throughout the semester. Even our smallest ideas can help students.
(Steven Foster)
October 15, 2018 in Teaching Tips | Permalink | Comments (0)
Sunday, October 14, 2018
Raising the Bar Newsletter
Have you seen the new publication from AccessLex Institute titled Raising the Bar? The first issue includes a mix of articles on conferences, publications, tips, grant information, resources, program profiles, and more. If you missed the first issue, the link is here. (Amy Jarmon)
October 14, 2018 in Bar Exam Issues, Bar Exam Preparation, Bar Exams | Permalink | Comments (0)
