WEEK 2 TEACHING NOTES

This will be the first time you meet with your small group. The students should already know whether they are an “A” or a “B.” The following are my thoughts on how to run the Small Groups for this week.

INTRODUCTIONS

You should start out the session by introducing yourselves to the group and then having each of the students introduce themselves so you can begin to associate names and faces. I also ask them to tell why they are taking the class and whether they are contemplating a career in litigation. If you have any special rules for your small group, this is the time to announce them.

Most of you have taught this class before, so you know what has and has not worked in the past. However, when I taught this portion, I found it helpful to explain the grading process and how the curve does not allow much flexibility.

The introductions should take no more than 30 minutes.

There have been comments about the small groups and lectures going too long. It is not only the students that are on the clock! The small group sessions technically have 100 minutes (two hours with two 10 minute breaks). The last break is the 10 minutes before the lecture. It is imperative that the Small Group sessions and video sessions be concluded in time for the students to take a break and get to the lecture by 8:00. Given those considerations, here are some guidelines for timing purposes. If you have 6 students, the total time for presentation and critique should be limited to 16 minutes. A class size of 7 should have 14 minutes of presentation and critique. If there are 8 in your class, the total time allotted should be limited to 12 minutes.

Remember, no matter how brilliant your critique is, in all likelihood, they will only remember two or three things long term.

Finally, there has been an attendance change. One of the adjuncts who is not conducting the video the following week must stay for the lecture. That adjunct is responsible for confirming attendance at the Small Group session and the lecture and forwarding that to me on Wednesday or Thursday following class.

PROBLEM 1

The week’s assignment is to prepare and conduct a direct examination in Problem 1, NITA Liquor Control Commission v. Cut-Rate Liquor and Jones. The A students have been assigned to conduct a direct examination of Investigator Bier; the B’s are to examine Dan Jones.

 Start with the direct examination of Investigator Bier and have all of the A’s complete their examinations before moving to the examination of Dan Jones.  Since all of the A’s are to prepare a direct, there is no particular order in which to call on them to perform.

 Keep track of the order in which you call on the students to perform so that you can vary the order in subsequent weeks. There is a form in your Faculty Notebook to assist you in keeping track.

 Call on one of the students to do the first examination and ask for a volunteer to play the witness role. I always use the inducement that they cannot be called on to perform as long as they are acting as the witness. If no one volunteers, dragoon someone to play the role, but check to make sure they are sufficiently familiar with the facts.

 You should change witnesses several times during the class.

 Call the order of performances at the beginning of the first four performances (the limit of their memories).

 Have the first student start at the beginning and ask questions for approximately seven minutes. At the end of the allotted time stop the performance and give your critiques. With only six minutes total for the two critiques you must limit yourself to one or two points and be concise in giving the critiques. You must keep the trains running on time.

 After the first student has been critiqued and sent to video review, the second student should then be called on to perform. If you think the first student did an adequate examination, the second student can be called on to pick up roughly where the first student left off or you can tell the second student that the accreditation or setting the scene have been completed and to pick it up at that point. If you think the class and the second student would benefit from starting at the beginning again or the first student has conducted a complete examination in the allotted time, then have the second student start at the beginning. The third student should be asked to pick up where the second student left off and so on until an entire direct examination has been completed.

 This routine is followed until all of the students have performed. Remember, all of the students must perform each week.

 Take a ten minute break at approximately 7:00 pm. It is very easy to lose time through breaks and late starts. Make sure the students are back in the room at the end of ten minutes.

 The faculty member doing the video review should stay in the room until the first performance and critiques are completed this first week. That faculty member should not critique that student in the classroom. The student should then accompany the faculty member to the Blakely Advocacy Institute Office where video review occurs. On subsequent weeks, the adjunct conducting the video should check in with the other adjuncts, then proceed to the video room to conduct any video review of students that may not have been reached the previous week.  When you have completed the video review send the student back down to the classroom.

 A description of the NITA critiquing method is contained in your notebook. Please review this before the first small group meeting.

 Possible critique points are contained in Building Block #1. I suspect that the students will have the most difficulty with asking non-leading questions and with organization.

Good luck.