I have spent most of my life as a student, but I’ve also spent the last seven years as a teacher.
I teach LSAT classes part time. I’ve worked for three different companies. I’ve taught hundreds of students. “My” students (such a strange expression… as if they belong to me!) have taught me so much. Cliche, isn’t it? But it’s true.
They’ve taught me the meaning of “preparation.” To prepare to teach a class, it’s really not enough to have a lecture memorized. I’m at my best when I spend hours thinking about the material in advance of each class meeting. First, I consider each topic and sample question from my own point of view. But, then, from the point of view of my students. How will the visual learners need to be taught? The auditory learners? The students who have completed all of the homework and have all of the content knowledge? What about the students who have done none of the homework? I don’t want anyone to give up or feel left behind, but I also want to be sure the top students are stimulated.
As a part of this preparation, I try to be ready with at least three approaches to any given concept; because it’s usually not that the student isn’t smart enough to understand the concept but that they just need a more accessible presentation of the concept in order to make it comprehensible. I also try to have an everyday example on the ready when explaining the most difficult concepts (just today, I explained the difference between necessary and sufficient assumptions by reference to Cain & Abel’s Texas Tea–have you tried it? that stuff has magical powers).
My students have taught me about communication and how to engage an audience. At least twice a week, I stand in front of my students for four hours and engage them in a discussion about reading comprehension, and logical and analytical reasoning. Sounds like a special sort of torture for students, doesn’t it? It doesn’t need to be. If everything falls into place, it can actually be fun. That’s my goal: to create a LSAT classroom experience that draws the student in while improving their performance. I don’t always succeed, but I think I’m getting better at it.
Most importantly, my students have taught me that success can be earned through perseverance. This lesson served me well as I worked to fulfill the GPA condition of my job offer this year. And, now, with the June administration of the LSAT just days away, I hope that my students’ perseverance will serve them well. My current students started preparing for the LSAT in February. They have been working to prepare for this test for nearly six months! (To put this in perspective, I, on the other hand, will spend less than six weeks preparing for the bar exam.) These final few days have been filled with one-on-one meetings with students. And in meetings like these I am reminded of one of my most surprising discoveries as a teacher: teachers care about the success of their students as much as (or sometimes more than) students do themselves.
So, if there is a teacher reaching out to you, take them up on their offer of help. We want you to do well. Let us help. Let us teach. Let me return the favor.
I think I will have to give up teaching when I start work as an attorney in January and I am very sad to see this fulfilling chapter come to an end.
Read the full article: My Students