2024 the best law schools review
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(as of Nov 25, 2024 14:31:09 UTC - Details)
What makes a great law professor? The first study of its kind, What the Best Law Teachers Do identifies the methods, strategies, and personal traits of professors whose students achieve exceptional learning. This pioneering book will be of interest to any instructor seeking concrete, proven techniques for helping students succeed.
What the Best Law Teachers Do introduces readers to twenty-six professors from law schools across the United States. These instructors are renowned for their exacting standards: they set expectations high, while also making course requirements--and their belief that their students can meet them--clear from the outset. They demonstrate professional behavior and tell students to approach class as they would their future professional life: by being as prepared, polished, and gracious as possible. And they prepare themselves for class in depth, even when they have taught the course for years.
The best law professors understand that the little things matter. They start class on time and stay afterward to answer questions. They learn their students' names and respond promptly to emails. These instructors are all tough--but they are also committed, creative, and compassionate mentors. With its close-to-the-ground accounts of exceptional educators in action, What the Best Law Teachers Do offers insights into effective pedagogy that transcend the boundaries of legal education.
Publisher : Harvard University Press; 1st edition (August 20, 2013)
Language : English
Hardcover : 368 pages
ISBN-10 : 0674049144
ISBN-13 : 978-0674049147
Item Weight : 1.2 pounds
Dimensions : 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.25 inches
Reviewer: Academic Success Prof
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Ground-breaking Guidance for Law Profs & Students Alike
Review: At a time of intense challenges for law schools, this book provides thoughtful, thorough, and insightful guidance on what all law professors can do to navigate the craft of law teaching in the 21st century. This book is also an excellent resource for law students, as it provides rare insights into what their professors seek to accomplish in the classroom.
Reviewer: The City Dweller
Rating: 1.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Much borrowed but nothing new.
Review: While the authors attempt to outline the methodologies of the "best" the problem with the book is that it actually believes that it has in fact found the "best" and that these professors are engaging in methodologies that are in fact novel, unique or ground breaking. ANd while I do not quarrel with the expertise of the folks named in this volume, I do find the assertions by the authors to be at once myopic and anything but new. First, the selection process is flawed on myriad levels. The fact that there were only 250 nominations means that the tool used did not reach the HUGE constituency that comprises the makers and consumers of the "product." So my hunch is very few folks actually knew about this project. Second, the type of teaching highlighted, while truly engaging ( for students) does little to deconstruct what makes law teaching such a barren and at times wasteful venture. The authors really do not address how the law school curriculum is in itself an impediment to learning or how the consumer mentality in law school stunts intellectual risk taking and learning. Moreover, the book fails to identify learning tools that are unique to the teaching of law--primarily because the teaching of law, rather than professing, is no different than teaching any other subject--the theoretical and practical paradigm of doing law-something that requires teaching from the "inside-out." There is, among law these authors the implied notion that what these wonderful teachers have done or are doing is new---it is not. And this notion of "unique" or "newness is THE major fault of the alleged "new" learning movement in legal pedagogy. It is rather "old" to those who have been teaching at various levels throughout the learning academies, especially those teachers who have been struggling for generations about how to make learning relevant, life-long and a tool that opens minds to new ideas, critical thinking and how to translate thinking into action. Instead of reading this book, I would suggest delving into the materials crafted years ago by Dewey, Kozol, and the plethora of studies done on what makes a great teacher. Perhaps all of this is new to these authors...but to those of us who have been in the world, teaching your children, your children's teachers and those who do ... this book contributes little to the teaching profession or even the law teaching profession.
Reviewer: Donald A. Sharpe
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Not a law professor but interesting read.
Review: I'm a psychology professor, not a law professor, and I'm more comfortable with data than anecdotes, but I got a lot out of this book. By collecting together the "best" law professors and revealing their secrets for success, I found a number of ideas for improving my classes and maintaining a positive attitude towards teaching.
Reviewer: Newman
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Chicago Kent great profs
Review: At Chicago Kent we all have Michael Spak and other great professors plus sometimes Lewis Collins the former dean and president.