Thanks to Dan for inviting me to join PrawsfsBlawg. Although I’ve some mixed feelings about the entire law blogging enterprise (to be explored in future posts), with summer upon us, resistance to the lure of this great blog became futile.
When I started teaching, back in the fall, I took some good advice I had heard at the AALS Workshop for New Law Teachers and jumped right into the material without much of an introduction. The principle seems transferable, so, I thought I’d start with something substantive.
This blog has previously led the charge on the question “Why Do I Write?” (see here and here and here for a few swipes at the problem). The obvious* follow-up is “Why Do I Teach?”
This question raises similar tensions as the WDIW question. In a literal sense, for most of us, the answer is “Because I am paid to.” Of course, this answer is deeply incomplete and misleading. Better phrased, the question really is: “What do I get out of teaching other than a paycheck?” There are many answers here. The part I thought I’d focus on in this post is the adrenaline rush of teaching — the part that makes it impossible to do any serious thinking for hours before or after class . That rush, I think, comes in two forms.
1. Personal: I try to use the Socratic method. Every day is a leap of faith in the class and in your own abilities to think on your feet. With the exception of the day that I brought munchkins to class as a treat, only to have the bottom of the box fall out when I picked it up, that faith was rewarded.
2. Vicarious: There is nothing like watching first year students figure out that the law isn’t about rules, but instead about conflicting policies. One day they are fighting like rabid dogs for scraps of black letter law, and the next, they want more of Lon Fuller. (Note: that is a lie: they never wanted more Lon Fuller. Some liked Morris Cohen, happily…)
Of course, there is much, much more. Indeed, if I were a reductive social darwinist, I’d say the joy of teaching is set incredibly high to make it possible to get through the agony of grading. What do you folks think?
*Also suggested