Creating Hope from Within: The Power of Reflection

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

Session Capacity: N/A

Location: N/A

Room: Franciscan A

Floor: Ballroom Level

This session will focus on how to teach students to engage in reflection to enable them to approach situations with hope in numerous ways throughout their legal careers. Reflection is an integral part of both externship and in-house clinic teaching. Through reflection, students can be hopeful that there is a place for them in the legal profession; that they will become part of an inclusive, diverse legal profession; that they can change the justice system for the better; that they will be the advocates for those who cannot advocate for themselves; and that the lessons they learn and apply will make a better future for themselves, for their clients, and for the communities they serve. Drawing from our book Externship Pedagogy and Practice (2023), we will model how clinicians can weave reflection throughout their courses and create an effective model for teaching and assessing reflection. We will discuss how to design course or program learning outcomes that include reflection and how to assess those outcomes and take corrective action. In addition, we will share methods to teach reflection, including teaching rounds, seminar discussion, check-ins or conferences, and written assignments. These methods can be implemented in any setting where reflection is being taught, but we will place special emphasis on externship teaching. After the session, attendees will be able to write learning outcomes for teaching the skill of reflection; identify and design learning assignments that are effective for teaching the skill of reflection; design class sessions and exercises for teaching the skill of reflection; and design rubrics for evaluating students' performance on reflection assignments.