'Describe what you managed to learn in the first week of laws classes.'
Written by Sarabeth Halley (Sept 07)
Introduction:
During induction week I have learned many a thing in the Laws classroom; the rules and regulations of being a Laws student, how to read and précis, The Buzan Method, and how to set out an essay plan. Within this essay I will talk about what each thing is in detail and how it will help me achieve a good grade in the subject.
‘Meat’ of the Sandwich:
Rules:
First I will talk about the rules and regulations of being a Laws student and what the commitments are.
Firstly there is, always attend lessons, no excuses or exceptions unless on your death bed and even then you can get your parents to bring in your home work or collect the work for you to do. If you do for any reason have to leave the lessons or not attend, collect the lessons work and do it before the next lesson. Also get an Absence Slip from personal tutor’s office, get all your subject teachers to sign it before the date and then get your parents to sign it. Then you need to take it back to the law class and you are marked as ‘away’ or ‘authorised absence’ in the register, this means that you do not have an unauthorised absence which means you won’t have your teachers chancing you up asking you why you where out of lesson.
Another rule is always hand in homework on time and with the ‘Self Assessment’ sheet. Otherwise you homework will not be marked and you will get an additional essay from the essay bank. If this continues and you don’t do the extra work you will go though the discipline system and then if you continue you will be removed from the Laws class room.
Then the simple rules which everyone should know by heart, bring a pen, paper, the English Legal System by Jacqueline Martin which is what you will be working from. Without the book you will have no work to do. Raise your hand to ask a question or speak, don’t interrupt during the class or lecture. No food or drink to be consumed during class unless water and mobiles phones switched off before you enter the Laws classroom.
All pretty simple and straight forward, if you don’t bring the necessary materials you will go thought the disciplinary system until you do. Since without the necessary materials and books you cannot work which means what is the point of turning up for the lesson.
Read and Précis:
To read and précis means to read a good chunk of text and then write notes about it so it is easier to revise and to look over when your mind needs refreshing. It is not copying word for word or annotating on the important facts, it is reading it and putting the valid important information down on another piece of paper so when you read it you know what it means and can understand enough of it to do the task. If you just note down important words you won’t know what they mean or the facts which will make a difference between an E and a B grade. You can do it any way you like, bullet point, spider diagram choose which is easier for u to look at and understand. You can’t copy it since each précis is unique to the person who wrote it and it would be very easy to tell who wrote it and who copied who.
It also means when you’re writing an essay or doing your task you don’t have to skim read though a lot of text to pick out the information, all the valid points are already in front of you. This makes group activities and participating in class easier since you are not desperately taking notes and missing valid points which other people consider to be good or missing something being taught to the class by your teacher.
Generally you should read and précis the work you are going to do for the following lesson, this means you are a step ahead and can understand what your teacher is going on about. Otherwise you are jotting down notes and words which might not make sense and more importantly missing what your teacher is saying. This method goes well with the Buzan method made by Tony Buzan.
The Buzan Method:
A summary of the Buzan Method…
And carry this on until you have finished the piece of text.
This method was created by Tony Buzan to help retain information within the brain for a long period of time so later on you can pull it out of your head like a filing system. It can be hard to remember a lot of information and this method helps he brain take it all in at a manageable rate. This can help when revising for an exam or just in general learning.
Start by following the summary above, and then try and re write your notes without looking at the ones you have taken from using the method. See if your memory has improved, this is also a good revision technique. Ask a friend to test your memory by asking random questions about what you have been using the method on.
Writing an Essay Plan:
I have also learned how to plan an essay, which wasn’t clear to me before. I now know to think of an essay like a sandwich, the bread is the Introduction and Conclusion and then the filling as the main part of the essay, the chunky information and me arguing my point. This makes it easier for me to know what I am meant to do and how long it is meant to be, you would not buy a sandwich with more bread than filling would you?
In the introduction, introduce what you are going to talk about and give a brief outline so your teacher or examiner knows what you’re about to write about. In the main ‘filing’ section, talk about what your opinion is or about the subject you have been asked to talk about. Remember, your essay or writing is the only communication you have with the examiner, they don’t know anything about you, your personality or the troubles in your life, and this is the only way you are going to get a good mark, by giving all the facts asked for and by answering the question.
Conclusion:
I think the first week went really well, and I have learned a lot, this will help me get my point across not only to my teacher and class mates but the examiner. The essay plan will help me in all my subjects not only Law so it was a very valuable thing to learn. Learning how to take good notes and keep the valid information is valid when making a plan, but it will also help in group tasks and in other aspect of life. And everyone needs to learn the rules other wise how can a peaceful class room thrive. If there where no rules no one would learn anything since there would be too much chaos.