A Workshop on Externships!
In Myanmar, university teachers and professors nation-wide are required to wear blue on Mondays and Fridays.
No one could tell me why blue. Somehow it didn't occur to me to ask why this requirement even existed. It was actually really beautiful and unifying to see everyone in their matching colors.
Today me, Hsar Moo (one of our local legal trainers), and Ann (a legal trainer from the Thai office of BABSEA CLE) led a one-day workshop on Externships at Dagon University in Yangon. Experiential learning is an area that law schools here are interested in learning about, as there are no experiential learning programs. Classes are lecture based.
Later in the afternoon, we discussed what makes a good supervisor. Out of a list, participants checked off the two qualities they thought most important in a good supervisor-- the law students in red, the law teachers in blue. If you look at the red check marks, they're concentrated on two particular qualities. It was a good reminder to me that students value patience and good communication skills most in their supervisors, over being knowledgeable even!
We wrapped up with having participants propose externship programs for the law school. The proposals turned out to be a wide variety of experiential learning opportunities, from a field trip to the court in Naypyidaw to a full-time semester break placement. We then discussed challenges to implementation, which was a bit of a reality check.
I got to share some crazy clinical war stories with them, like about the student who came to clinic in her monkey pant PJs and the girl who told us she couldn't come to work because of a bad haircut. They must think all American law students are crazy now! But we talked about Professionalism and learning to behave in a work culture as one of the learning goals of an externship.
No one could tell me why blue. Somehow it didn't occur to me to ask why this requirement even existed. It was actually really beautiful and unifying to see everyone in their matching colors.
The teaching methodology of BABSEA CLE is very interactive. During my two weeks with BABSEA CLE so far, I've already learned a lot about engaging participants at workshops. In a large group discussion questions are often met with silence. People seem hesitant to speak up. But when you break everyone up into smaller groups and introduce some kind of interactive activity, all of a sudden the room is abuzz with chatter and movement.
In our first activity, in small groups, participants (about 2/3 teachers and 1/3 students) wrote a list of the qualities of a good lawyer. Afterwards, we had a little game where a team got points if their group mentioned a quality that no one else had mentioned. The question at the end was: Can students learn these skills in the classroom?
As I pointed out to the participants, this conversation is happening all over the world in legal education, including UC Berkeley-- how can we better teach our students to be good lawyers?
Later in the afternoon, we discussed what makes a good supervisor. Out of a list, participants checked off the two qualities they thought most important in a good supervisor-- the law students in red, the law teachers in blue. If you look at the red check marks, they're concentrated on two particular qualities. It was a good reminder to me that students value patience and good communication skills most in their supervisors, over being knowledgeable even!
Another few random thoughts today:
- Masking tape is the most useful thing! We use it at all workshops as name tags (self-adhesive), we use it to tape butcher paper on the wall, and we use it like white-out on the paper (you can just write your correction over it). Almost as useful as duct tape :)
- There were little birds that would fly in and hang out in our workshop with us every now and then.
- Being at a school in Myanmar is like being at home with the familiar pile of shoes at the doorway! The workshop was in the library, so we had to remove our shoes before entering.
We wrapped up with having participants propose externship programs for the law school. The proposals turned out to be a wide variety of experiential learning opportunities, from a field trip to the court in Naypyidaw to a full-time semester break placement. We then discussed challenges to implementation, which was a bit of a reality check. 
I got to share some crazy clinical war stories with them, like about the student who came to clinic in her monkey pant PJs and the girl who told us she couldn't come to work because of a bad haircut. They must think all American law students are crazy now! But we talked about Professionalism and learning to behave in a work culture as one of the learning goals of an externship.
Truthfully, I've always had some difficulty with the idea of going to a developing country to "help" other people. I firmly believe people are the experts on their own lives. So more than anything, I see my time in Myanmar as an opportunity to share. For Myanmar legal educators to share what they are doing and thinking, and for me to share some of my experiences as a clinical instructor. I kept emphasizing that all law schools are engaged in this kind of self-examination, and it definitely helped to have Ann, a Thai law graduate co-leading.
But in the end, the concept of experiential learning-- learning by doing vs. learning by reading-- is a concept that I do think holds value in any culture.
 |
| Law teachers and students who attended our two-day Mock Trial and Externship Workshop |
I'm loving hearing about what you're doing--it's so interesting!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's so fun to know someone is reading! :) xoxo
Delete