Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

I am always on the prowl for ideas to improve my teaching, but having given the idea due consideration, I think that this suggestion by “Law Ingenue,” offered as a cure to Sedentary Law Students, just won't work for me.

To alleviate sedentary behavior, maybe law school classes should start like Japanese companies with small group exercise workouts before class to everyone feels refreshed and ready to go? A little Tai Chi to clear the mind, reduce stress, and get the blood flowing so we can be Zen with Property Law?

Um, no. I can just imagine being blamed for causing an injury.

(In fact, rumor has it that one of my colleagues tried something a bit like this a few years ago, maybe a bit more Yoga-like, and the students objected vehemently …)

I've done my (exam) grades.

Average score on Q1 (nine short answer questions, the least valuable part of the exam) was 5.08 right, a weakish showing. The median as 5.25.

Average score on Q2 was 3.084 (a hair above a “B”).

Average score on Q3 (the most points) was 3.266 (a very solid “B”)

Students had seen question 2 in advance, but tended to do better on question 3, which (a) they had not seen and (b) was much harder. That surprised me.

Average final score on the exam was 3.199 (a “B” – I round down to make up for my loosey-goosey grading impulses). But now I have to add my rather generous class participation credit to calculate the final score. I use a complicated system, in which I sort the class into three tranches based on notes taken in or after almost every class during the semester, tell my secretary who's in which group, then get back the blind grading numbers with just the tranche noted. So I don't know who's who until after I turn in the final grades.

I do not curve my grades, but the raw grades look vaguely bell-like; depending how the class participation falls out, I could be at, above, or below, the faculty average for upper-level courses.

Note: Averages don't tell you much — you can drown in a river that is an average of six inches deep. I haven't the energy right now to do medians.