welcome to tools for academic successlaw.scu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014.tools_.slides.ft_.pdf ·...

Welcome to

Tools for

Academic Success

Presented by Devin Kinyon,

Assistant Clinical Professor of Law

Assistant Director, Office of Academic & Bar Success

WHAT IS THE OFFICE OF ACADEMIC & BAR

SUCCESS? • Academic support for all law students:

o 1L Academic Success Program (ASP)

o Workshop series beginning August 29th

o Practice exam program beginning October 18th

o ASP Resource Room in 230H Bannan Hall

o Faculty counseling

• Academic support for upper-division students needing

additional assistance

• Bar Exam Support

• We used to be called APD

Tools for Academic Success Presented by Devin Kinyon, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law


1L ACADEMIC SUCCESS PROGRAM (ASP):

• A weekly meeting with your assigned ASP group to

practice the essential skills necessary for law

school success: preparing for class, outlining,

exam preparation.

• Led by an upper-division student fellow; you’ll

meet some of them this week.

• What the data shows: Average of .26 GPA boost

for regular attendance.

• Watch your @scu.edu email for your assigned

session day and time.

• ASP begins week of August 25.



SESSION GOAL:

• To expose you to some new (and maybe old)

tools, approaches, and ideas that promote

successful law school learning.

WHO HAS TRAVELLED ABROAD?



AGENDA:

• Learning Styles

• Self-Regulated Learning

• Studying and In-Class Tools

• Time Management

• Quick Tools To Start Strong



LEARNING STYLES:

“A student's learning style profile provides an

indication of possible strengths and possible

tendencies or habits that might lead to difficulty in

academic settings. The profile does not reflect a

student's suitability or unsuitability for a particular

subject, discipline, or profession… (A learning

style preference also does not serve as an excuse

for a bad grade on the student's last physics test.)”

from Index of Learning Styles

http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSpage.html



LEARNING STYLES:

• We all have learning preferences, and have

used them before in college and work.

• VARK is just a tool to give some names to the

different ways our brains choose to learn.

• All people are multi-modal – either by nature or

training. But we all still tend to have one or two

preference areas that we favor.



VARK LEARNING STYLES:

• VISUAL (learning by seeing and creating

images)

• AURAL (learning by hearing and talking)

• READ/WRITE (learning by seeing and creating

text)

• KINESTHETIC (learning by doing)



VARK LEARNING STYLES IN LAW SCHOOL:

• Reading cases, making notes and briefs, and

taking exams read/write

• Listening to lectures and responding to

questions from the professor aural

• Applying the law to new factual situations

through hypos and clinical practice

kinesthetic



YOUR TASK AS A LAW STUDENT IS TO ADAPT

YOUR LAW SCHOOL EXPERIENCE TO YOUR

LEARNING PREFERENCES. REMEMBER:

“A learning style preference also does not serve as

an excuse for a bad grade on the student's last

physics test.”



IF YOU’RE A VISUAL LEARNER:

• Draw any pictures or charts from professor’s

whiteboard into your notes.

• Create flowcharts for your outlines.



IF YOU’RE AN AURAL LEARNER:

• Seek permission to record lectures so you can

review them on your iPod while commuting or

jogging.

• Explain what you’re learning to a non-lawyer in

your family (in an other language.)



IF YOU’RE A READ/WRITE LEARNER:

• Beware the laptop trap.

• Write notes by hand to engage your brain.

But don’t forget to try out other styles…



IF YOU’RE A KINESTHETIC LEARNER:

• Always review with hypos, including creating

your own.

In fact, writing out hypos and full practice exams is

the only meaningful way to prepare for law school

exams.



LEARNING STYLES:

• Isn’t this just psychobabble? Learning styles

are “fallacious” and have “more in common with

fortune-telling than the actual neurological

psychological process of learning.”

• There are lots of different tests and language,

but all address the same idea. Play around with

them and find one that works for you.

• You don’t need to just muscle through law

school.



LEARNING STYLES:

• “I already have an approach that works for me.”

• That may be the case, but law school is

different and requires adaption to succeed.

Don’t be so set in your ways that you shoot

yourself in the foot.



SELF-REGULATED LEARNING:

• Forethought (planning)

• Performance (making the rubber meet the road)

• Reflection (assessment and course correction)

from Expert Learning for Law Students

by Michael Hunter Schwartz

Copies are available in the ASP Resource Room.



Forethought

Performance Reflection



SELF-REGULATED LEARNING:

• Forethought – You’re doing this now in

Orientation, and in building a thoughtful weekly

schedule to manage your time. You’ll do more

forethought in your first few weeks of class.

• Performance – Classes start Monday; reading

and preparing starts this week.

• Reflection – One of the first topics you’ll discuss

in your ASP sessions.



STUDYING AND IN-CLASS TOOLS:

• Read for what’s important.

o Why am I reading this?

o Reflect on Professor Hsieh’s session.

o Briefing is essential.

o This is a new muscle that must be

developed.

o But reading alone isn’t enough.




• Supplements, hornbooks, and commercial

outlines:

o What are they?

o Using Bar Exam study materials.

o Not a replacement for your classes, your

casebook, or creating your own outline.

o My professor says “don’t use a supplement.”

o Finding them in the ASP Resource Room.




• Review after class:

o Right after to make sure you’ve got it.

o On weekends to synthesize the material into

an outline.

o Take practice exams and write hypos as you

go along (from the very beginning.)



TIME MANAGEMENT:

• A week at a glance:

• 1 to 3 classes each weekday

• about 20-30 minutes before each class

reviewing notes and case briefs to be ready

for in-class discussion

• about 2-3 hours after class to review notes,

and read and brief for the next day

• 1 ASP session per week

• at least 1 weekend day dedicated to outlining

and exam preparation



TIME MANAGEMENT:

o work and family commitments

o 30 minutes to an hour each day of exercise,

relaxation, or personal time

o time for meals and appointments

o one evening a week for socializing

o and about 6 or 7 hours of sleep each night

Your schedule might be different if you have a

commute, family care obligations, etc.



TIME MANAGEMENT:

• A semester at a glance:

o August – getting your bearings.

o September – begin outlining and practicing.

o October – hit your stride.

o November – greater emphasis on outlining

and practicing.

o December – all about exams (practicing

before and succeeding on the day of.)



0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Aug/Sept October November December

Reading

Other exam prep



TIME MANAGEMENT TOOLS:

• Fill out your planner now and use it.

• Set expectations for out-of-school commitments

now and stick with them:

o Relationships with family, friends, and

spouses/partners.

o Work expectations.

• Don’t hesitate to ask for help.



PRACTICE EXAM:

• I, STATE YOUR NAME, do solemnly swear that

I will take as many practice exams as

possible for each of my classes.

• I understand that writing-out practice exams

and assessing my own performance is only way

I’m going to know if I’m prepared for December

exams.

• And I understand that I should start practicing

soon, as in within the first month of the

semester.



PRACTICE EXAMS:

• What the data shows:

o No ASP practice exams = 2.9 GPA

o 1 ASP practice exam = 2.96 GPA

***

o 4 ASP practice exams = 3.24 GPA

• And this only includes ASP-administered

exams.



QUICK TOOLS TO START STRONG:

• Find your first assignments on Camino.

• Check your @scu.edu email account every day.

• Attend class every day.

• Sit in the best seat in the house for you.

• Use us.

o ASP starts during week of August 25.

o Attend the first workshop on August 29.



Professor Devin Kinyon

Office of Academic & Bar Success

230-I Bannan Hall

[email protected]

Office Hours: TTh 1-2pm

I’m always available by appointment too.

welcome to tools for academic successlaw.scu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014.tools_.slides.ft_.pdf ·...

Documents