2005 Competition - 3rd place

What makes a good law teacher?

Lara Saraireh (University of Bristol)

Lara was placed third in the 2005 competition and invited to attend the Learning in Law Annual Conference 2005.

When I took notice of this question on the notice board outside my university law library, the first thing I thought of was this:

A teacher once placed a large bowl of water before the class in ninth grade English, and as we watched, uncertain of the point he was going to make, he put his hands into the water and moved them around so as the result was a small current in the bowl. He then removed his hands, shook off the droplets of water that clung to them outside the bowl, and looked at us. We only stared back at him. The water settled, and eventually seemed to us as though it had not been touched. He then said to us that his intention of that demonstration was not one that was solely applicable to the English class we were taking, but rather to life. He explained that the bowl could represent absolutely anything we might encounter, and that his hands moving were representative of our contributions or dealings with that particular matter. It was true that the water now looked still, and seemingly untouched. But the reality of that was rather that some water droplets had been removed, that particles from his hands were now in the water, and that to the keen observer a small current was still recovering from the motion of his hands. So the lesson learned was that if we dared submerse our hands into any water bowl, we would make a contribution, however small, and the water bowl might never be the same again.

I took with me this memory, and I can still recall how astounded I was by his demonstration; how motivated I was having realised that if I wanted to, I could in some way change anything I wanted in the world, however small that change might be – it was still a contribution I could claim as my own.

I went on to take an interest in politics and human rights and particularly women’s rights, having resided in communities under which I viewed particular injustices in the legal system, particularly in that regard. (Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, for example) I was admitted into the University of Bristol, and am now in my final year of my LLB degree, with a consistency still in my interests reflected by the courses I have chosen as my options: United Nations Law, Human Rights Law, and Islamic Law, to name a few.

What I have discovered through my experiences as a law student is that in order to progress towards a particular objective you require a certain degree of intimacy with your mentors – something that is a little more personal than a number. I think in my first two years as a law student I was a somewhat intimidated by the largeness of the entire system, and the difficulty I had in distinguishing myself as an individual trying to attain a specific ambition. After I had done some research on the law teachers that were available to me at my university, I realised that perhaps I had been allocated to the wrong personal tutor, as his areas of specialty were not the areas I had a particular interest in. I then requested to be changed to another tutor, whom I knew had specialised in areas that I deemed to be of particular importance as with regard to my personal interests. Having made that discovery I found that when I spoke to that teacher I could communicate in such a way that I hadn’t done before. I appreciate that teacher’s particular insight into those areas, his regard to my strong points and his ability to address my weaknesses constructively.

I found the same advancement in my communication with a Human Rights teacher. Again I realised that sharing the same interests allows the teacher to have a better understanding of the student, more than anything because they want to have a better understanding of the student as an individual who has shown strength of ambitions in areas they are familiar with.

I have found that these few personal conversations I have had with these two teachers particularly, have instilled within me a rediscovered motivation: they were keen to listen to my opinions on the subjects they were teaching, and even areas which were interdisciplinary and so related to the subjects they taught. It is particularly inspiring to a student when the teacher is also learning from them: for example a personal discussion I had with my Human Rights tutor after a seminar revealed that he did not have as much knowledge in Islamic Law as I did, particularly because I had personal experiences with the subjects having resided in Islamic communities, being a Muslim student with my own particular opinions on matters under the subject as I have myself concluded from my own readings and experiences and observations of such societies. I appreciate that he made me feel as though my insights were an asset to the course as they were directly linked to other areas within the scope of Human Rights.

I think more than anything, then, there is a desperate need for interaction between law students and law teachers at a level under which both are equal, both teaching and both learning. In my opinion it is the ability of a teacher to drop this barrier under which he is defined as the individual who provides the student with the information and that that is solely his role that really makes a good law teacher. Seeing as to how the subject is so vast and controversial, the teacher must discern that it is not necessary to dictate to the student his own opinion, but rather to allow the student to develop his own thoughts and ideas on a particular subject, allowing them to submerse their hands in the same water bowl, creating a tide with their teachers, and accordingly having a larger impact, together, on whatever area of life they choose to battle and change.

Last Modified: 22 July 2010