Co-teach 1

Co-teach,

   As we have started planning this course, I’m already seeing the levels of complexity and negotiation that real interdisciplinary work requires: learning from one another, adjusting our expectations, and opening ourselves to surprises and unforeseen opportunities. When we began talking about this course, I envisioned that we might cover 20-30 cases over the course of the semester.  I think we are down to 6 cases, and I keep thinking to myself: “there isn’t much reading in this class.”  On the other hand, if I am honest with you, the design component of this class terrifies me.  I have no idea what to expect, or how to understand it—let alone teach it to students.

   At the same time, I am intrigued by the knowledge (and power) imbalance that comes from working across disciplines. In our meeting today, you showed me the workspace that you used to craft our course logo. There must have been 20-30 iterations of different colors, fonts, and layouts.  I watched you explain the emotion, intuition, aesthetic, and judgment underlying each iteration, and I was awed by the complexity.  I’ve never had a course logo.  I’ve never even had a course font.  Before you started explaining the different prototypes in your workspace, I saw only words and colors, and I could barely see the differences. But now we have a logo.  It is expertly crafted and captures a great deal of the ethos of this course.

   In the other direction, you have already reminded me how I need to slow down and unpack what seems obvious to me: the captions of judicial opinions, the legal jargon, the ways in which facts and law relate to one another. I’ve already glimpsed how working through these cases with you will open my eyes anew to the complexity of the law.  And in doing so, this experiment beyond boundaries will not only expose me to your skill and expertise but will also allow me to better understand my own.

   Looking forward to beginning this journey with you.

   John