Classroom/Mindset

When you attend class - and you should - what is your objective? Why are you here? What are you hoping to accomplish? I have discovered over the years that my students generally fall into two camps when answering these questions:

Camp 1: "I want to learn and understand the material."

Camp 2: "I want to find out what is important that I will need to learn later."

Students in Camp 1 generally do better in Legal Environment. Why? Because I purposefully structure the class to ask questions, not answer them. Law is not black and white, it is all gray. The answer is not as important as the process used to reach the answer. So students who are actively listening to understand in the moment have an easier time grasping the ambiguity presented by the law, and applying the correct legal concepts later - on the test. They take enough notes to recall the discussion later on, and fix the concepts in their minds during class.

Students in Camp 2 are usually furiously scribbling every note that is on the PowerPoint (I post them all on MyClasses - you can look at them later!), without, I suspect, even knowing what they are writing. They are not making connections. They are not engaging with the material. They are acting as scribes, not students. And they will struggle on the test.

(Camp 3 are those who do neither. They sit. They look like they're listening. They leave. Also not a good strategy.)

Use your class time wisely - come ready to learn, not to find out what you need to learn later.

#ClassroomMindset #Attitude #ProfessorInsight #StudyTips