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Abstract: It’s a common dilemma for professors: How can I add new skills to my writing class when I don’t necessarily feel comfortable with my level of knowledge and don’t necessarily want (or have time) to become an expert in this new skill? How can I expand my students’ learning experiences more efficiently? Collaborative teaching may be the answer.
Collaborative teaching (or co-teaching) involves two or more faculty who regularly and purposefully share instructional responsibility for a single group of students. Collaborative teaching has been used in secondary education, special education, and undergraduate courses for quite some time, but has been slow to catch on in legal education— including in legal writing and other skills courses.
There are numerous ways to incorporate the models of collaborative teaching into legal writing classrooms, whether for a single classroom exercise or an entire course, that take advantage of its vast potential while minimizing its possible downsides. This short article describes the primary models of collaborative teaching and each of their potential impacts on the classroom, and suggests ways to effectively use each model in legal writing classes.
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