Co-teach 2
Co-teach,
I’m right there with you: as we continue to fine-tune the details of our course content, I am constantly intrigued by the breadth of compromise that goes beyond our pedagogical styles. Among many other things, I have found that being honest and extending patience towards each other to be key attributes to unlocking surprising possibilities. I still remember all the questions I had after reading the "Abdullah v. County of St. Louis" case—none of which actually had anything to do with the content of the case: What do the different symbols mean, Should I pay extra attention to the text in red, Why are there so many levels of hierarchy at play? The discussion that ensured could have gone 10 different ways including showing me how I should read a case, but instead, we slowed things down, took the case apart step-by-step and you met me where I was. Eventually, we walked away with multiple viewpoints on how we perceived the opinion, consequently inspiring our first assignment.
On the other hand, while you were envisioning 20+ cases, I was trying to wrap my head around how long it took me to read and make sense of just ONE case. On top of that, I was concerned about how oh so little time we have to learn basic communication design principles, let alone have enough time to actually develop design deliverables. I wondered whether the students would have enough time to digest the content and come up with different ways of presenting this information. Whereas I could already see lots of ideas, messy iterations, stuff pasted on the walls to critique etc., just like you, I’d be lying if I said that the law components didn’t terrify me.
Legal language is unfamiliar territory—and quite intimidating to be frank—but I’m eager to learn it because words are to law what typography is to communication design. Reading that one case made me realize how much I was going to have to rely on your guidance to understand the legal semantics let alone the comprehensive systems underlying each judicial narrative. Already, the more we have met to plan and have conversations about the content for the class, the more I’ve come to appreciate the weight of the words of legal documents, even when I might not understand them. I also realize that we both need to allow each other permission to ask as many questions as possible and take the lead in the areas where we are expert. We’ve made strides to that end and I’m very excited to see the outcome.
It’s amazing to think that just a few months ago this course was a proposal of ideas and now, we are only a few weeks away from our first day of class. The designer in me is trained to embrace ambiguity and trust the process, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little anxious about the unknown; at the same time, I am thrilled to see where it leads—what a privilege it is to embark on this journey together!
P.S
People. Justice. Paper work. My initial thoughts when asked what I thought of law. Remember that question? Ha. I can’t wait to see how I would answer that question at the end of the semester.
Penina
