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Lawyering Up with Mock Trials

My majestic judge's (graduation) robes waiting patriotically before the trial.
Somewhere in the excitement of teaching, I almost failed to blog about one of my favorite things so far this year...the Debate and Mock Trial class. I am kicking myself for not getting more pictures of this class's adventures. We had a great trimester of debating, communicating, collaborating, arguing, researching, acting, and generally being awesome.

During the second half of the trimester, we started working on a mock trial. We started by using a completely scripted trial to get a sense of the procedures, then jumped in to some essential vocabulary. The Idaho Law Foundation has great resources. We dug into their Case Materials right away. As we prepped, we watched this video of some Idaho schools competing.

After a week or so of prep, we visited the courthouse where we talked to the judge, hung out with the bailiff, asked 1,000 questions, sat in the jury box, watched part of a jury trial about potatoes, and ate at KBs. It was, hands down, the easiest field trip I've ever organized. The courthouse in Hailey was incredibly accommodating, and the students were fantastic representatives. Next year, I will schedule this visit earlier in the trimester.

The Idaho Law Foundation also put me in touch with a local lawyer, Brian Hilverda. He visited Carey and told us about his job and helped explain some aspects of trials that I would have totally missed. I never would have known about the importance of jury instructions without him! I also learned that we are charting vacant territory as there are currently no mock trial teams in our region. His visit showed the value of bringing outside expertise into the classroom.

Because I was new to a lot of this, the class was disjointed and messy at times. Next year, I will have a better idea of which concepts the students need before starting. I also need some way to keep students motivated to prep for their case during our mock trial unit. I think I need to use more deliberate strategies for introducing the case materials and help them dissect the information. I have a much better idea how to do that now (Sorry, first year guinea pigs!).  It was also difficult to do mock trial with a small group. We needed at least two more people to really make it work well.  Hopefully, word-of-mouth will draw more students in next year. It's a class that requires a lot of work, but the payoff for that work is fantastic to be a part of and see. The trial itself was a blast, but I need to record it next year and leave more time after for reflection.

A lot of what we did in this class felt like play to me, and I hope it felt that way for students, too. I was equally, if not more, excited to learn about debate and mock trial. I also learned that there are many fantastic people and communities in our area willing to support academics and academic competition. WRHS's debate team made us feel like we belong in the debate community. All the people we interacted with at the courthouse had big smiles for the students and encouraged us to continue learning. Mr. Hilverda motivated students to take the class again next year and compete. I can't wait to see what next year brings!
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