Topics Covered

Questioning, listening and responding; Using humor; Case teaching; Eliciting participation; Socratic discussion; moving around the room; pressing for clarification; intellectual rigor

• Instructor: Todd Rakoff, Byrne Professor of Administrative Law
• Student Group: Graduate
• School: Harvard Law School
• Course: Legislation & Regulation
• Clip Length: 5 minutes, 13 seconds

Go to Rakoff Clip 4

Topics Covered

Eliciting participation; Questioning, listening and responding; Case teaching; Using humor; pushing students to clarify points; cold calling; wait time; staying grounded in the text

• Instructor: Todd Rakoff, Byrne Professor of Administrative Law
• Student Group: Graduate
• School: Harvard Law School
• Course: Legislation & Regulation
• Clip Length: 4 minutes, 15 seconds

Go to Rakoff Clip 3

Topics Covered

Eliciting participation; Using humor; Questioning, listening and responding; Case teaching; cold calling; asking follow-up questions; Socratic method; intellectual rigor

• Instructor: Todd Rakoff, Byrne Professor of Administrative Law
• Student Group: Graduate
• School: Harvard Law School
• Course: Legislation & Regulation
• Clip Length: 1 minute, 34 seconds

Go to Rakoff Clip 2

Topics Covered

Opening class; offering reminders of where students are in the course trajectory; connecting to prior topics covered

• Instructor: Todd Rakoff, Byrne Professor of Administrative Law
• Student Group: Graduate
• School: Harvard Law School
• Course: Legislation & Regulation
• Clip Length: 1 minute, 33 seconds

Go to Rakoff Clip 1

Todd Rakoff points out that having students take a position they don’t necessarily agree with can make discussions less personal and invite broader participation. Additionally, employing small group discussions can be a powerful tool for amplifying diverse viewpoints. In this video, when Rakoff sends students on their way to talk through court cases, the room transforms into a flurry of energy and lively deliberation. Rakoff uses informal and formal role plays, questioning strategies, and an even-handed tone to solicit and affirm alternative perspectives in discussion.

Though commonly associated with large enrollment law school courses, cold-calling need not be limited to such formats. Rather, it can be valuable across content areas as it infuses lessons with student-teacher dialogue and brings quieter students into the fold. In this video, Todd Rakoff strategically cold-calls to encourage participation from less vocal students.

Exchanges that proceed from student to student without professor serving as mediator can be extremely valuable. As students hash out points of disagreement, the class hears multiple perspectives more constructively than they would during the traditional, professor-driven lecture. In this video, Todd Rakoff pivots between two student comments to encourage students to more actively respond to each other.

In discussion-based classes, especially large ones, it is difficult to ensure that all students have a chance to verbalize their thinking and receive feedback on their ideas. Incorporating small-group discussion is a low-stakes way of ensuring that all students have the opportunity to actively engage with course material and their peers. In this video, Todd Rakoff breaks students up into small groups to apply abstract legal principles to a concrete problem. Students discuss in small groups before participating in a whole class discussion, where Rakoff solicits insights and synthesizes...

Questions have the power to ignite or short-circuit deeper understanding. While the thoughtfully constructed question might take a discussion to new heights, another can stop it in its tracks. What sorts of questions get students thinking more deeply? How can these questions be planned in advance or developed “on the go”? In this video, Todd Rakoff uses a questioning strategy inspired by Socratic dialogue to probe for deeper student thinking.

When students share incorrect or unclear comments in discussion, instructors must tread carefully. Learning how to provide clear feedback without discouraging participants from contributing altogether can be something of a balancing act. In this video, Todd Rakoff employs a range of careful strategies like follow-up questioning, wait-time, and gentle clarifications when he gives students real-time feedback. Such responses aim to increase students’ learning and deepen their engagement.