Tuesday, February 01, 2005

In Which Our Heroine Tries to Create a Curriculum

I've wanted to teach law for about as long as I can remember, and I'm getting invited to submit a curriculum to do just that right now. I saw an opening for a course I thought needed to be in the progam, and so I'm going for it.

This is an interesting challenge, and not just because I finally get to be mean and cruel for a living if this all pans out. But there's lots of decisions you have to make. Like grading. How do I want to grade this class? I think there should be more writing in law schools, but I also think that writing a paper for a final grade is a bit of a cop out, especialy in a survey course, which this would be. I know in that instance I always wound up writing the paper, learning loads in depth for one teensy weensy slice of the subject, and frequently not paying attention for the rest of it (it rather depended on the strength of the lecturer.) I also tended to put it right off til the last possible minute, and I can't say my compadres were much better. But three hour exams aren't exactly the best way I think to get people to answer things - more to see if they can recall stuff under stress. Luckily for me I'm good at that, but I don't really want to sit down and have to wade through panicked writings of crapola. And so I arrived at the compromise of.....the take home exam.

It is this way with everything. And I'm just drafting the curriculum. Not being able to wait on the lectures, I've already started drafting PowerPoint presentations for those. Gosh, what a weenie.

Of course, the really cool thing about what I do and what I'm trying to teach is that the cases will at least get the kiddies (who are probably going to be older than I am) reading. Extreme Pornography - new case. Interesting take on obscenity. And of course the new case on the unconstitutionality of the bootlegging statute - where else in the law do you get to read about porn, sex, bootlegs and the rock band KISS? Nowhere but IP, baby.

Suggestions, anyone?
Love
Anne