Quote, Teaching Techniques, Resources, Answers to Your Questions, Random Fact, News, Deadlines, & Dates
1. Quote: “Great lives never go out; they go on.” –Benjamin Harrison
2. Teaching Techniques and Resources: To get your kids more familiar with the facts of the MT, consider using scavenger hunts as warm-up activities. A scavenger hunt worksheet will have your kids flipping through the MT packet and looking for individual clues. These can be made competitive (girls vs boys OR left-side vs. right-side of the room) and fun. We suggest:
a) Use the scavenger hunt to point towards important facts
b) Keep the desired answer short and sweet
c) Mix in evidentiary and witness statement answers
Sample questions could include:
a) Who was present at Tyler’s arrest?
b) Name 5 different images you saw in Jesse’s video.
c) How many police officers were present at the event in JFK Park during the protest?
3. Answers to Your Questions:
Q1: Rutherford B. Hayes submits, “So wait, you said something about a seminar on Wednesday this week. What is up with that again?”
A1: Good question Rutherford. We are having a seminar this WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11th. Unless you have a good excuse for not being there…you should be there. I know some of you will be late or have to leave early, but you should make it to as much as you can. We will be giving you useful, concrete ideas for teaching mock trial. Be there or be square!
Q2: Richard M. Nixon asks, “My BFF/Bestie, parents, siblings, and significant other want to score the mock trial. Where can they sign up? Can they score my team’s trial?”
A2: Awesome job getting the word out! To score the mock trial a person generally must be part of the legal community (legal professional or student). However, if there is a special someone in your life who is not part of the legal community, please talk to us individually about your situation and it is possible an exception may be made. We hope you will be able to send many scorers our way, but know any scorers you know will be assigned to score a different trial. Here is the link<http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/academic-programs/clinical-programs/our-clinics/DC-Street-Law-Program/Mock-trial.cfm> to our online volunteer sign up sheet. Please pass it around.
Q3: Millard Fillmore writes, “My co-teacher and I are sketching out a plan for the mock trial unit and were wondering when we find out which side we are on.”
A3: Good thing thinking ahead Millard! We think it’s important that you spend some time diving into the packet and getting to know your way around the case before your students are assigned a team (and switch to looking at the case through a narrower lens). Here are some things to note about team assignments:
– We must have an even number of teams. This means that one person may be asked to consolidate teams or field more teams than originally planned.
– We must have the same number of plaintiff and defense teams. If you have an equal number of teams we can assure you that you will have equal numbers of defense and plaintiff teams. We try to balance the teams at the same school so the teams can practice against one another. If you have an odd number of teams you will be asked to submit a preference. We would to de-emphasize the preference piece and we prefer that you say ‘no preference’ because due to the fact that we must balance the teams it may happen that your students will not get their ‘preference.’
So WHEN do you find out what team your students are on? On (NOT BEFORE) February 20th please email Jessica with the number of teams you are fielding and any preference you may have if you are fielding an odd number of teams. The team assignments will be emailed out onSunday, February 22nd.
Q4: George HW Bush writes, “I have never done a peer observation before. When I go to observe another law student’s class, what do I need to do?”
A4: Nothing. Well, not exactly. But unless you are asked by the law student whom you are observing to help with the lesson or be involved in the class, you should simply stay in the back of the room and take notes. Then shape those notes into a brilliant one-page summary demonstrating significant reflection and include it in the journal section of your monthly report due March 1st.
Q5: William Henry Harrison queries, “Can you send out the individual files of all the trial pieces in case I want to make them into worksheets or games?”
Q5: Now you got it! Games ‘R Us is the way to roll when it comes to getting your students through the witness statements (hint hint….ourWednesday seminar might be even more fun than usual….). All individual sections of the mock trial will be uploaded on TWEN in the “Mock Trial Resources” folder.
Q6: Thomas Jefferson ponders, “Are we required to teach during Faculty Retreat week?”
A6: No, you’re not required to teach during the Faculty Retreat. Please inform your cooperating teacher or administrative contact if you will need a substitute during that week. I believe there was a very generous email that went out from Andrew Davis today advertising himself as a substitute teacher for hire. If you need a sub, consider reaching out to Andrew.
4. Random Fact: To prove whether a number is a prime number, first try dividing it by 2, and see if you get a whole number. If you do, it can’t be a prime number.
5. Deadlines & Dates:
2/11: WEDNESDAY seminar (in addition to our regular Thursday seminar)
2/13: DCPS NO CLASS (Professional Development Day)
2/16: DCPS/GULC NO CLASS (Presidents Day)
2/17-2/18: GULC Faculty Retreat (Let your school know!)
2/19: NO SEMINAR (Monday schedule)
2/23: DCPS Cancelled (Parent-Teacher Conferences)
3/9-3/13: GULC Spring Break (Let your school know!)
Streetlights 
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