Inclusive Socratic Teaching - by Jamie R Abrams (Paperback)

About the Book

"For more than fifty years, scholars have documented and critiqued the marginalizing effects of the Socratic teaching techniques that dominate law school classrooms. In spite of this, law school budgets, staffing models, and course requirements still center Socratic classrooms as the curricular core of legal education. In this clear-eyed book, law professor Jamie R. Abrams catalogs both the harms of the Socratic method and the deteriorating well-being of modern law students and lawyers, concluding that there is nothing to lose and so much to gain by reimagining Socratic teaching. Recognizing that these traditional classrooms are still necessary sites to fortify and catalyze other innovations and values in legal education, Inclusive Socratic Teaching provides concrete tips and strategies to dismantle the autocratic power and inequality that so often characterize these classrooms. A galvanizing call to action, this hands-on guide equips educators and administrators with an inclusive teaching model that reframes the Socratic classroom around student-centered, skills-centered, client-centered, and community-centered teaching techniques"--

Book Synopsis

For more than fifty years, scholars have documented and critiqued the marginalizing effects of the Socratic teaching techniques that dominate law school classrooms. In spite of this, law school budgets, staffing models, and course requirements still center Socratic classrooms as the curricular core of legal education. In this clear-eyed book, law professor Jamie R. Abrams catalogs both the harms of the Socratic method and the deteriorating well-being of modern law students and lawyers, concluding that there is nothing to lose and so much to gain by reimagining Socratic teaching. Recognizing that these traditional classrooms are still necessary sites to fortify and catalyze other innovations and values in legal education, Inclusive Socratic Teaching provides concrete tips and strategies to dismantle the autocratic power and inequality that so often characterize these classrooms. A galvanizing call to action, this hands-on guide equips educators and administrators with an inclusive teaching model that reframes the Socratic classroom around teaching techniques that are student centered, skills centered, client centered, and community centered.

From the Back Cover

"Courageously exposing the harms caused by rote adherence to the case method and the Socratic method in legal education, Jamie Abrams sets forth essential new approaches that embrace inclusive Socratic techniques and experiment with critical pedagogies. Challenging teachers and leaders to democratize legal classrooms through fairer, more effective, and more innovative methods, Inclusive Socratic Teaching is a must-read for anyone who wishes to dismantle the unnecessary yet unrelenting hierarchies of the law school classroom."--Danielle M. Conway, Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law, Penn State Dickinson Law

"Inclusive Socratic Teaching moves legal education from critiquing its traditional pedagogies to transforming them. It invites faculty, staff, leaders, and accreditors to find synergistic ways to strengthen our classrooms and our institutions. This book is a timely and productive springboard for discussion and reflection within and across our profession."--Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Dean and Ryan Roth Gallo Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law

"Expanding on the consistent critiques voiced by scholars, educators, and advocates, Abrams exposes the shortcomings of the traditional hierarchical Socratic method and proposes tangible reforms in legal education that, with minimal disruption, can radically transform praxes within the legal academy."--Aníbal Rosario Lebrón, Associate Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School

"Inclusive Socratic Teaching inspires legal educators to channel Socrates, exercise intellectual humility, and ask a powerful question: How can we help all our students--especially our naturally quiet, introverted, shy, socially anxious, first-generation, or marginalized ones--amplify their advocacy voices authentically in our classrooms? Our profession needs these diverse voices. Abrams equips us with practical tools to cultivate a culture of belonging by empathetically teaching all students how to navigate intellectually complex Socratic dialogues successfully."--Heidi K. Brown, Associate Dean for Upper Level Writing, New York Law School, and author of The Flourishing Lawyer: A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Performance and Well-Being

About the Author

Jamie R. Abrams is Professor of Law and Director of the Legal Rhetoric Program at American University Washington College of Law. She has won numerous awards for her legal education pedagogy innovations, which are reflected in her many published casebooks, skills books, and scholarly articles.