NCTE 2007 Roundtable , Friday, November 16, 2:30-5pm, Marriott Marquis Students Map the Legal System: Engaging Students in Writing Through Field Work In an intermediate political science class, students read several texts about the legal system in tandem with field work, for which they left the academic "bubble" and traveled to several Massachusetts courthouses in Boston, Cambridge, Dedham and Natick, to observe court proceedings and speak informally with court officers, counsel, and judges about the day’s cases. Students then wrote field reports on their observations, and gave presentations on their observations to the class. For the second field work assignment, I relied on my over-the-fence, small-town connections—a neighbor who is a Boston police detective— to arrange patrol car ridealongs for students researching the role of police officers in the criminal justice system. A third assignment required students to interview attorneys on both sides of a closed civil case; this required some persistence, imagination and doggedness. Working in teams of two, students found a personal injury lawsuit involving a trampoline injury at an unsupervised teenage house party, a sexual harassment lawsuit by a former state lottery commission employee against her coworker, a blind inmate's suit against prison officials for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and a case in which a Goliath corporation, a well known maker of scented candles, sued a small upstart company for trade dress infringement. This final field work project, though time consuming and challenging for students, produced some fascinating essays, which I will share during my session. My presentation will focus on the four stages of students' work in this project: finding a case to study; articulating the important questions they wanted to find answers to in their research; interviewing lawyers, parties, and other players in the case; planning the shape of the essay, drafting, and revising it. The instructor's role in these stages will be examined and evaluated, as well. Lastly, I will discuss the effectiveness of fusing field work and writing as a way of bringing students out of the isolated classroom and into an awareness of how the justice system works, and whether it is truly “just.” Course Descriptions: Political Science 215 Courts, Law, and Politics Fundamentals of the American legal system, including the sources of law, the nature of legal process, the role of courts and judges, and legal reasoning and advocacy. Examination of the interaction of law and politics, and the role and limits of law as an agent for social change. Related assignments: The court observation- Rabinowitz,  “Either He’ll Have A Gun Or Give Me A Big Hug” Interview with a law student-Fischer, “Law School Field Report: 3 L” The police ridealong- Ballard, “A Night in District C11:  Observations from a Police Ridealong” The comprehensive case study- Keller and Fischer, “25 Lawyers, 13 Judges, 5 Defendants, 1 Plaintiff, and No Resolution” Political Science  311 The Supreme Court in American Politics Analysis of major developments in constitutional interpretation, the conflict over judicial activism, and current problems facing the Supreme Court. Emphasis will be placed on judicial review, the powers of the president and of Congress, federal-state relations, and individual rights and liberties. The Conversation with a Lawyer assignment acts as an introductory exercise and complement to this lecture-based constitutional law survey. Related assignment: Conversation with a Lawyer- O’Toole, "Discovering Employment Law: An Interview with Attorney Karen Shaffer-Levy" Writing 125: Law in Contemporary Society An expository writing course for first-year college students, this course looks critically at current issues in American society through essays and articles by legal commentators and journalists, current new reports and united States Supreme Court opinions on such topics as civil liberties, reproductive rights, assisted suicide, same sex marriage, privacy and abortion.  Students will learn to do original academic research, using print-based and electronic databases, and to write analytical and persuasive essays based on their findings. Related assignment: Interviewing a participant in the legal system- Lee, "Application of Constitutional Principles to Overturn Traffic Ticket" and Johnson, "Rodney's Best Interests" The information and student writing on this website may not be reproduced without written permission from Lynne Viti, Senior Lecturer in the Wellesley College Writing Program, lviti@wellesley.edu Copyright 2007.
	Created by: Amy Barao '01 || Modified by: Tiffany Mok '06 || Date created: August 1, 2001|| Date modified: August 6, 2008 Maintained by: Lynne Viti || Expires: August 31, 2009