ABA: Treat Students Like Human Beings

Vanessa Merton at the “Best Practices for Legal Education” blog gives us a view at the ABA’s “Best Practices” standards for legal education:

Learn students’ names. This is perhaps the single most important thing a teacher can do to create a positive climate in the classroom. Call students by name in and out of the classroom. Do not allow them to be anonymous, to feel they can fade out without anyone’s knowing or caring.

Learn about students’ experiences and use them in class. Ask students to provide you with information about themselves: where they are from, undergraduate school and major, graduate degrees, work experience, other experience related to the course, hobbies, and anything else they want you to know. Ask students to share their experiences at relevant times in the course.

Let students get to know you. Introduce yourself at the beginning of the course, letting students know about your professional and personal interests. Fill out the same informational survey you ask the students to complete. Go to lunch with students and attend student events.

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Frequent student-faculty contact. Substantial research documents the importance of student-faculty contact. Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of class is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students’ intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and future plans.

I couldn’t agree more. This fall was the first semester in which I failed to learn all of my students’ names by heart. The whole new baby thing really knocked me off my rails. However, I have always tried, even as a lowly adjunct in front of a big class, to create an environment in which my students feel like I got to know them a little bit.