As I prepare to teach my final class of the summer term, I am also thinking of ways to tweak my ASP programming when the next term begins in August. Fortunately, I attended both the AASE Conference in Indianapolis and the LWI Conference in Philadelphia.
The LWI Conference offered good opportunities for ASP folks and LRW folks, alike. At every turn, it was possible to take away good ideas to use to improve academic success programming. On the last day of the LWI Conference, Jane Grisé of the University of Kentucky School of Law presented on the topic of "Integrating Academic Success in the Legal Writing Curriculum."
Professor Grisé noted spoke about her experience using cases and statutes from Legal Writing assignments in early ASP sessions. She found that doing so motivated 1L's to attend the sessions and decreased stigma that can deter some students from attending ASP sessions.
The sessions appeal to a lot — if not all — of the first year class because the sessions adress skills necessary to succeed on impending LRW assignments. At the same time, the sessions allow students to gain case-reading skills that can transfer to their reading for other classes. These early sessions can use LRW cases as the focus in teaching critical case reading and case synthesis. The sessions can also address time managment in the context of both the impending LRW assignment and the semester writ large.
(Myra G. Orlen)
