« Getting Things Done ("GTD") for Prawfs | Main | My NYC (or: What I Didn't Do Today at Noon...) »
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Team Teaching
When I was in law school I was able to take a First Amendment class co-taught by Professors Fallon and Schauer, and now that I am teaching law myself I had the good fortune to be able to co-teach a small seminar on legal history with Wes. Next fall, Wes and I are planning on combining our constitutional law sections for a few co-taught sessions. If this trial goes well, perhaps in future years we will co-teach a large course for an entire semester.
I find the co-teaching arrangement enormously beneficial for students, and I wonder how often it is used. Co-teaching allows each professor to lead discussion in those portions of a subject for which he is most expert. More importantly, however, a co-teaching arrangement allows students to see the interplay between the two professors when their views diverge. Through this interplay, students learn not only which portions of the subject are arguable, but how to make such an argument.
Of course, a well taught class with a single professor will seek to impart these lessons, and co-teachers need to be careful that they are not monopolizing the floor. Students need to practice making arguments themselves, and not just observe their professors making arguments. Nevertheless, I see a tremendous upside for co-teaching.
For those of you who have experience as a student or teacher in a co-taught class, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts as to whether co-teaching is valuable (and worth the resources that must be devoted to it), whether it is more valuable in some classes than others, and whether there are ways to make sure that the arrangement works optimally -- i.e., whether there are special pitfalls to watch out for or techniques for success that would not be immediately apparent.
Posted by Michael Dimino on January 2, 2008 at 04:05 PM in Teaching Law | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8341c6a7953ef00e54fbd31538833
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Team Teaching:
Comments
In addition to different views and expertise, consider different "learning styles," such as spatial vs. verbal. I'm in the spatial group, and frankly I don't think I believed there was another group until I took civ pro, co-taught by two profs, one from each group. The verbal prof kept explaining the Erie doctrine, and more than half the class seemed to understand, but the rest of us just couldn't get it. Finally, the spatial prof walked up to the front of the room and drew a diagram, and we all said "oh, that's it." The verbal prof looked at the board and said, "That makes no sense to me whatsoever, but if it works for you, great." Now that I teach civ pro, I'm always drawing diagrams and struggling to remember how my verbal prof would have explained things ...
Posted by: Jennifer Hendricks | Jan 2, 2008 10:18:20 PM
I took state con law from two professors from opposite ends of the political spectrum on most issues. Both professors felt unconstrained by the perhaps lofty and often ignored goal of teaching impartially. They even played devil's advocate on occasion. It was tons of fun. And because the class only had about fifteen people in it all the students still had plenty of opportunities to participate and practice crafting their own arguments.
Posted by: Jim Green | Jan 3, 2008 12:34:22 PM
When you team teach, how is it counted in your teaching load? i.e., is co-teaching a 4 credit class equal to each teaching 2 credits or each teaching 4? How do the powers that be -- those that need to be sure there are teachers for all classes -- feel about it?
Posted by: Hows it work? | Jan 3, 2008 2:45:04 PM
That's a good question, and I'd like to hear how other schools do it. Our constitutional history seminar was not even treated as a class--students enrolled in "directed research" with one or the other of us but we were not officially teaching the class at all. We each taught our regular loads in addition to the seminar. Next fall I assume we'll get full credit for teaching our constitutional law courses, since there will only be a handful of team-taught sessions, and those will probably require more work than will the other sessions in any event.
My off-the-cuff assessment would be that the credit the professors receive should depend on the work they put into the class. If the class is split such that each professor attends only half the class sessions, then a reduction in credit would be appropriate. But if each professor is in the classroom for four hours per week, then I think each professor should get four hours of credit. The class itself could accommodate twice the number of students, so the effect on the school's finances and allocation of resources could be a wash. I suspect the larger classes are a worthwhile price to pay for the two teachers, but I'd like to hear others' opinions.
Posted by: Mike Dimino | Jan 3, 2008 3:10:40 PM
I had a contracts class that was team-taught this past semester and I was unimpressed with the results. The interaction between the professors, if there was any, was not clear to the class...and the experience led to much discontent among the students. Both of the professors were excellent, and it was nice to see the different approaches and styles. However, I believe more time with both professors simultaneously would have been essential to seeing any substantial added value.
Posted by: El 1L | Jan 3, 2008 9:31:24 PM
The only thing I would add to this is that Mike Dimino is an ideal person to team teach with. One of our more liberal colleagues commented that while she often disagreed with Mike's perspective that he was always civil. I corrected her -- he is always magnanimous. She agreed that she stood corrected. I think there may be some people in academia who do not approach a discussion with a style that suggests that their minds could be changed -- that the interaction really is a process of searching for truth, or at least a search for better answers than we currently have. Whenever you have a chance to team teach with such a person, take it.
Posted by: Wes Oliver | Jan 4, 2008 1:07:28 PM
Even if I deserved such kindness, for Wes to write comments such as those above would bespeak his grace and humility, particularly in view of the recency of the disappointment in Iowa. I am very lucky to have his friendship and counsel. (It's our mutual respect, as well as our anything-but-imposing physical characteristics, that makes the idea of our participation in a "Smackdown" so humorous.)
Posted by: Mike Dimino | Jan 4, 2008 8:12:48 PM
I took a seminar last year with team teachers. I don't think it worked well because the professors dominated too much of the discussion with their inside jokes and comments meant more for each other than for the students. I think it's important for the professors to be mindful of how their interactions will be interpreted by the students.
Posted by: JT | Jan 10, 2008 8:27:27 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
