As a student at Leiden University in The Netherlands in Europe I was
accustomed to teachers standing in front of a lecture hall filled with
hundreds of students lecturing us about what was the study material of
that particular week. I did not like it at all and just made sure I got
my degree.
Years later as a lawyer I was allowed to go to the Nijmegen Law
School and follow some courses there in immigration law. The group was
small – around 25 people – and our teacher would walk in the classroom
and ask us what we thought about a certain situation. And when we all
had expressed our views tell us what the treaties had to say about a
situation like that. I loved those courses.
Seven years later it was me teaching at a college and I had no
formal teaching training so I just copied the way I was schooled in
Nijmegen. My class was very engaged and when I got very ill just after
they had their exam they mailed me cards and one girl called me for
years once a year to ask how I was doing.
This year I was contacted by another college if I was able to give
the lectures at their institute. I already taught at an online college
for years but this was back to the classrooms. It turned out that all
what did was summarize the studybook on Powerpoint sheets that were
presented in class and then distributed via their intranet. Most of the
students had not even bought the books or even opened their lawbooks.
They completely panicked that I did not do it by Powerpoint but asked
questions and discussed concepts, let the students see for themselves in
the law and practised cases. Management did not have a click with me
“because I made people nervous”. As a lawyer with 20 years of experience
in immigration law who only had been teaching at 2 colleges prior I
wondered what the hell I did wrong. So I joined a class on teaching.
For this class I have to write essays and this is the first one.
The focus on the class is the relations a teacher has with students,
co-workers, parents and things as cultural diversity and other subjects.
This essay had to be about the relationship a teacher creates with his
students.
One of my first eye openers was that there are two different types
of teaching: The teachers that tell and the teachers that ask. That that
combined with teaching either a narrow or a broad approach and how
supportive a teacher is determines what kind of outcome there will be
for the student.
This way that we interact with students in the classrooms is where
the power lies in our classrooms. In depends on what kind of students we
will create and let grow into professional grown ups. In my case what
kind of lawyers I train them into.
What I had been doing and how I was taught as a student in Nijmegen
was the method where students were asked questions and invited to join
in. The last college I worked for had developed a method what was purely
one set on memorizing I now realise. While I think that especially when
you train lawyers it is way more important to try to go for the
“knowledge” or the “understanding” outcome (see picture). Since laws
change sometimes multiple times a year it is not so much the knowing how
it is written down in detail now but learning the concepts and ideas
what made the law, the mayor framework and know where to look for the
current specific text later in life.
As we see in the diagram professor Townsend showed us in week 1
(see picture above) that means there needs to be a teacher asking
question, a supportive teacher who interacts in a positive way and one
that focusses on concept (the broad approach). Although in law we cannot
avoid to train ourselves in facts (the narrow approach) too but that
still leads to students that have mastered a mix of understanding and
knowledge.
As professor Townsend says in week 1:
“if a teacher asks lots of questions, if those questions are about really
important elements of learning. And if the teacher then supports
the students to find the answer, then what we're really doing is trying
to promote student understanding. Rather than memorising
individual pieces of information we're helping students to
understand what that information means. We're helping them to develop
their own learning strategies.”
But to get to that goal the law professor needs to realise that
teaching is not just blurting out a one way stream of legal facts,
showering the students with Powerpoint sheets but he or she better gets
the student really thinking about the pitfalls in immigration law, the
moral dilemma's, the things that can destroy someone's claim for asylum,
that immigration law is so much more complicated then what it seems to
be. It will have the students more actively involved. I can still
remember one case our law professor Thomas Spijkerboer asked us 16 years
ago.
We as the one teaching have to make clear from the start that there
are no stupid suggestions or questions in the classroom and people can
speak up freely because the students are here to learn not to become
stupid lawyers in the future and of course they still are in training so
not expected to be as eloquent or correct as a Supreme Court judge.
Only then people will feel free to open their mouth and will not hide
themselves behind a more brave classmate.
Being afraid to admit you do not know something can flatten your
learning curve. My worst day in court was right at the beginning of my
career. I worked for the Dutch government and had to defend them in
cases were illegal aliens who were caught in criminal acts were deported
to their homelands. As someone in training my mentor would meet me in
the train, we would go over my cases on our way to the city the court
was assembled and then I would represent the government but she would
sit in the back of me to help in case it was needed. That day she did
not show up at the railwaystation and I had to do it all alone and
flunked big time. In despair I said (remember I was still very young and
in training): “But Your Honor I do not see what is wrong with these
cases and what I am doing wrong”. Then I felt like the ground opened up
under me so ashamed I was. The judge looked at me – he was a parttime
university professor – and said to opposing council “You just sit and
keep quiet. I will explain something to your colleague." And then very
friendly told me he would explain. "Miss Raspe are you not still in
training and normally miss X accompanies you being your mentor?” I
explained she had not showed up in the train. He said she should have
come as she had to teach me things but he would explain it to me himself
now. He did. I felt like a total moron and even more because miss X
made it my fault when she heard and not her for not showing up. No it
was me who was stupid and had flunked the case. But I never forgot the
explanation the judge had given me. Years later I met the same judge
again in another court. I had to defend the government in a long line of
cases that would take up all morning. My knees felt a bit like jelly
because I remembered what had happened the last time I saw him years
prior. At case number 3 the appellant had not shown so it was just me
and the court. I started my official plea. The judge interrupted and
said; “Miss Raspe there is no need to try to impress me. I watched you
in the prior two cases and it is clear to me you have become a fine
lawyer since that last time we met. So just answer the two things I need
to know in this case.” and gave me a wide smile. His reaction and that
of my mentor are explanatory about what is the difference in teaching in
a supportive way or in an oppressive way.
I think what apart from interaction, support and teaching concepts
is also very important when teaching law is trying to show your students
why knowing the
ins- and outs of something potentially boring as law can be fun. Be
enthusiastic! Hand out the love for your field of knowledge. Explain
how life changing things can be for a person and how they can be able to
help that person.
Beam!
And if those students ask you for an extra lesson because they want
to excel in what you have been teaching do not think “I am not getting
paid to do that” but smile and say you are glad they are so eager to
learn.
This was an edited version of an essay I had to write as homework
for my course Foundations of Teaching for Learning 8: Developing
Relationships. You can find that one here:
https://www.coursera.org/learn/teacher-relationships/home/welcome
Oh and remember: We all make mistakes and if you are clever you try to learn from them. And that will make you stronger!
This article was posted originally here:
https://lnkd.in/e_pkGiJ by @wytzia on @LinkedIn
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