Doni Gewirtzman, New York Law School: “Teaching and Theater: The Craft of Law Teaching”
Doni Gewirtzman is a Professor of Law at New York Law School. He presented with the Craft of Law Teaching Pod at the 2014 Igniting Law Teaching conference. His talk, “Teaching and Theater: The Craft of Law Teaching,” states that professors are live performers, and that law professors compete with methods of conveying information that are often more efficient, more effective, and more compelling than we are. In order to survive in this new world, law teachers have much to learn from live theater, an art form that has survive in the face of rampant competition and new technology. Professor Gewirtzman’s talk focuses on what law professors can learn from live performance and the ways we can exploit its unique educational advantages.
This video is part of a video collection from the Igniting Law Teaching, hosted by LegalED at American University Washington College of Law. Responding to the calls for legal education reform, the conference -- the first of its kind -- created a forum for professors experimenting with cutting edge technologies and techniques in law teaching with the goal of spreading their ideas to the broader community. The talks were modeled on TEDx Talks, with each speaker on stage alone, giving a well scripted and performed talk about an aspect of law school pedagogy. The goal of LegalED is to curate a growing collection of short, 10-minute videos on law school-related pedagogy that will inspire innovation and experimentation by law professors to bring more active learning and practical skills training into the law school curriculum. This videos, and others like it, are available on LegalED, a website developed by a community of law professors interested in using online technologies to facilitate more active, problem-based learning in the classroom, in addition to more assessment and feedback.
Professor Gewirtzman has been named New York Law School’s “Teacher of the Year” three times; he teaches Constitutional Law and different areas of social science such as the role of emotion in decision-making at the University. He is also the co-director of NYLS’ Initiative for Excellence in Law Teaching (IELT). In his spare time, he enjoys the theater, plays guitar, jazz piano, the ukulele, and obscure German board games.
LegalED aims to harness the power of the internet for legal educations. It facilitates blended or flipped learning – by migrating lectures to the web, LegalED frees up classtime for active learning that challenges students to learn the essential lawyering competencies while they are in law school. Professors may assign the videos in any combination for students to view outside of the classroom for active learning that challenges students to learn the essential lawyering competencies while they are in law school. LegalED seeks to develop and maintain a vibrant online community of teachers and students of the law, creating a central hub for the community. Through the video collection, teachers can be inspired to borrow, adapt, and bring great teaching moments into their own courses. With an internet platform, LegalED opens up formerly isolated classrooms by sharing showcasing, celebrating and inspiring innovative teaching. Simply put, the vision of LegalED is to inspire innovation in legal education. Join the movement!
The LegalED 2015 Igniting Law Teaching conference will take place on Friday, March 20th, from 9am to 6pm. Register to attend in person or live stream the event.