Debriefing Students Can Demystify the Classroom
by
Paul Bateman

Law school classes often end with students picking up their books and bags and heading for the exit, while a few surround the teacher to ask questions.

In the Academic Support Program at Southwestern, we have formalized the end of class by debriefing students on their classroom performance so they leave class with focus and understanding about the process of the law school classroom.

A student's comfort level with the classroom is essential to her socialization to the study of law and to her academic success. We need to inform students about their performance as class participants.

In our summer program for first-year students, we reserve about 20 minutes each morning to debrief students on their classroom performance. The method is simple. I observe students during class, taking notes about the questions and answers and the ways students respond. When class is over, I discuss with the students their performance and suggest ways to capitalize on the classroom experience. Individual comments might cover the following areas:

Case briefs. There are two kinds of briefing problems: Briefs are either too long (the student has not recognized the material from the immaterial) or too short (the student has leaned toward abstraction and toward knowing only rules without a clue as to their limits and peculiarities). We ask the following kinds of questions:

• How did your notes help or hinder you in class today? When students discuss this question, they understand that case briefing is not an end in itself, but a tool for class participation. Students soon discover that useful briefs anticipate that day's questions, which, in a perfect teaching world, reflect the significance of the assigned material. Often, we can show a student that the answer to a professor's hypothetical was in the analysis of a case they have just read.
• When you were unable to respond, was it because of a problem with your brief? If so, what was that problem? Should the brief have contained the answer? Should the process of creating the brief have suggested the answer? These questions help students think critically about their briefs and about the specific demands that teachers place on a brief's ability to help students in class.
• Why did the teacher ask a particular question? Students begin to see the value of anticipating where a line of questions is heading.

Teaching Style. We also ask students about the effect of the professor's teaching style that day. Law students seem to concentrate on the differences between teachers, but we try to point out the similarities by cutting through the professor's particular style of teaching.

We ask students about their passive participation. Could they participate vicariously or was there a tendency to tune out when other students were reciting? From these clues, students begin to see the value of preparation and participation, even vicarious participation.

Hypotheticals. Students need to know that a teacher's hypothetical was not merely a convenience but an example of the kind of question they may see on an exam.

Classroom technology. When teachers write on the board, we tell students to pay special attention: Has the teacher set out the elements of the rule that she expects to see on an exam? Unless alerted, students may not recognize the significance of these doodlings.

Effective review. Many students come from an undergraduate model that accommodated last-minute review. However, we encourage students to review constantly -- before and after each class.

Within two days of the debriefing sessions, the level of student participation increases. More students raise their hands, and the range of responses indicates an increased level of understanding. Furthermore, rather than fighting the process of the law school classroom, students begin to buy into it because they can see where it is going, and they see how they can better prepare to reap its benefits.