Teaching philosophy.

Through years of teaching law and legal writing, I have constantly practiced and refined my pedagogical strategies towards a philosophy that inspires and motivates students to do more than they thought possible. I have found through the years that a key factor in my philosophy is to show students my passion for teaching and for their success. At the end of each semester, I want students to realize that they learned something that is valuable and relevant to them as a lawyer and as a person.

Because I teach courses to non-native English speakers from diverse legal systems, my pedagogical strategies must address very specific learning interferences related to legal language acquisition and comparative law methodology. To this end, I developed a student-centered pedagogical strategy that I call the Five R’s. According to the Five R’s, the class content and/or instructor must be (1) relatable, (2) relevant, (3) resourceful, (4) responsive, and (5) reachable.

Relatable

Being relatable means that students understand the processes in the class so that they can share in the responsibility of the class, which leads to self-efficacy and confidence building. The starting point for my pedagogical strategy is to create and maintain a humanizing environment in the classroom. Features of a humanizing environment are (1) shared decision-making with students (i.e. having the class vote on make-up and final exam scheduling), (2) fairness and transparency in class administration and assessment (i.e. attaching a rubric to each assessment), and (3) cooperative learning (i.e. group work critiquing anonymously written sentences). A humanizing environment encourages the personal growth of students through shared responsibility, allowing the student to relate to both the instructor and the class as a whole.

At the beginning of each semester, I address cultural and language interferences. One important component of my pedagogical strategy is contrastive rhetoric, which aims to help students be aware of learning interferences that arise from culture, language, and legal systems. Being relatable allows the students to develop self-efficacy and build confidence. All students must genuinely believe that they have the potential to do well in the course.

Relevant

Being relevant means showing students the importance of the class, not only while they are in school, but in their life. I strive to make course topics and materials simple. I teach with simplicity, making my classes accessible. An essential facet of simplicity is making students see how the topic they learn in class is relevant to their everyday lives. I use stories and anecdotes to teach complex legal writing concepts. When teaching analogizing, for example, I begin by asking students to analogize a pen to a pencil, or EVIAN water and BARWA water. I then lead students to analogies that are more complex until they learn how to analogize complex legal reasoning. By using everyday examples, students learn how they can apply the same skills to their everyday life.

To make the skills taught in the class relevant to students, the class must be process focused, and not outcome focused. Students must appreciate that the class is not only about grades, but also about learning skills that will help them beyond law school. I encourage students, for example, to master the process of writing and the process of making analogies, instead of what they have written or what specific analogy they had made. To achieve a process-focused class, I ask students to critique their own and each other’s work, and I encourage fierce self-editing of their writing. What students ultimately take away from my classes are a number of mini skills that are not only very important in legal writing, but can also help them in making non-legal and sometimes personal decisions. I show students how they can use the skill of analogizing when hiring or firing employees.

Resourceful

Being resourceful requires the professor to use whatever means are available to make the class more engaging. I believe that no classroom is complete without embracing technology. My classroom is, therefore, what I call a “technology-assisted” classroom. Technology will never replace good teaching strategies, but technology can assist and make teaching more engaging to already tech-savvy students. I sometimes use Prezi, a presentation platform that allows for a three dimensional representation of ideas, and I encourage students to use technology to enhance learning. I use an AI bot for AI client interviewing, and I use AI to pre-draft a document that students then critique in an AI correction exercise. I also use stories from children’s tales, YouTube videos, sample cases and clients as anecdotal evidence, pop-culture, movies, and everyday scenarios to explain ideas.

Ultimately, the resourcefulness must transfer to the students. To do this, I guide students to becoming self-regulated learners who teach themselves about the class and about the world around them. I do this by posing questions during class, and by asking students to self-edit and reflect on their work and progress. Students, for example, spent additional time in the law library working on editing paragraphs and showing them to me in my office, for no additional grade.

Responsive

Being responsive, to borrow a word from web designers, means to respond to the needs of the students. I teach to all learning styles. For example, I make the classes both visual and auditory by sometimes using Prezi presentations that are embedded with a YouTube video or a website. I use active learning by engaging students in class conversations, instead of just the lecture and listen method. I believe that classes must get students involved in a conversation. I use Blackboard as a blog to engage students in written discussions, so students actively share their written thoughts, an important component of a writing class. Being responsive also entails giving rapid and detailed feedback to students on their written work.

Reachable

Being reachable means being there for students whenever they have a question, and being able to provide individualized student-teacher discussions to assess truly a student’s performance. I maintain an open-door policy in my office, allowing students to meet me during office hours, at a time of their choosing by advanced appointment, and whenever they see me in my office or designated office location. It is important for the encouragement of self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, and a humanizing environment that I am accessible to students and sensitive to circumstances that may interfere with their learning. The open door policy and accessibility, however, must be conducted within the boundaries of mutual respect. I use empathic listening during these individualized meetings, and give positive feedback, especially when students feel they have done poorly. For example, when a student feels discouraged due to a lower than expected grade, I rephrase the situation to the student as an opportunity for improvement and for self-growth.

Feedback to students

Being responsive also entails giving rapid and detailed feedback to students on their written work. I use empathic listening during individual meetings, and give positive feedback, especially when students feel they have done poorly. When a student feels discouraged due to a lower than expected grade, I rephrase the situation as an opportunity for improvement and for self-growth.

Fairness and transparency matter to me: a rubric is attached to each assessment.

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