Elizabeth Keyes, University of Baltimore School of Law: “Teaching Narrative”
Elizabeth Keyes directs the Immigrant Rights Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Her talk, titled “Teaching Narrative,” was presented in the Beyond Traditional Law Subjects Pod at the 2014 Igniting Law Teaching conference. Professor Keyes explains that narrative is central to so many lawyering skills, and her talk explores ways to teach it to students. She demonstrates the exercise that she uses to introduce the subject to her students, eliciting the basic elements of plot and the themes that will guide the rest of the seminar. Then she shows an exercise dividing the class to use story structure to argue for and against a hypothetical client.
Professor Keyes teaching, scholarship, and practice all focus on improving access to justice for immigrants in the immigration system and other intersecting areas of the law, from criminal to family law. Her clinical work emerges from her years of practice at non-profits whose work with immigrants crossed a spectrum of legal needs and lawyering strategies.
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.