Developing a Teacher Training Program for New Clinical Teachers

Abstract:     
Where to Begin? Training New Teachers in the Art of Clinical Pedagogy, an article published in the Spring, 2012, issue of the Clinical Law Review, gave a full description of Georgetown’s course in clinical pedagogy. That article set forth some of the critical questions new teachers must ask and answer by describing the goals, content, and execution of the course.

This article describes hows, whens, and whys of the program, focusing on how our faculty, over a period of many years, created and revised the curriculum for the Pedagogy course. It also describes the choices we made as we developed the course. Although it may be of interest to all clinical teachers, this article’s main audience is more experienced teachers within a region whose schools regularly meet to discuss issues relating to clinical pedagogy, clinic directors at schools that hire several clinical teachers in a short period of time, and teachers who wish to develop a teacher training program for new clinical teachers. The two articles, when read together, will give those teachers and directors an understanding of the choices we made in developing the teacher-training program at our school and provide an outline to use when developing similar programs tailored to meet the needs of their own schools and faculties.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 21

Keywords: legal education, law school clinics, clinical education, clinical teaching methods, legal educators

JEL Classification: K00, K10, I20

Accepted Paper Series