Teaching the Law School Curriculum - Institute for Law Teaching ...

338 Property
Difficulty Papers
Feedback and Evaluation
I have experimented with the use of “difficulty papers” as a means of helping students recognize, embrace, and
play with points of difficulty, and thus to emerge interested and strong rather than frustrated and fearful.
Addressing this dynamic straightforwardly is important for several reasons. Talented first-year students have
often found learning to be “easy” rather than “difficult” and may unconsciously have learned to avoid acknowledging
areas of uncertainty rather than to embrace them. They may also be unfamiliar with the notion of
“metacognition” (that is, being aware of what one does or doesn’t know as one learns). They can also be frustrated
in particular by property law, since they may have the impression (at least in my classes) that it is more
uncertain than some other subjects that seem to focus on clear rules. They may also be used to focusing exclusively
upon what happens in the classroom, rather than recognizing how much they themselves must construct
their knowledge as the course proceeds by experimenting with fact patterns, talking with friends, and reflecting
on possibilities as they prepare and review.
Assigning “difficulty papers” helps first-year students negotiate these challenges. The exercise allows students
to recognize and name points that they might otherwise overlook in responding to problems. It also provides a
means of collecting and listing difficulties identified by all members of the class, so that students appreciate the
role that others’ questions can contribute to their learning. It gives them practice in writing exam questions early
in the term so that they grapple with the need to study differently than they have in the past. It also gives the instructor
a read on what the students see (or fail to see) as they become more skilled legal analysts and allows the
instructor to gauge their learning compared to other classes in the past (since I generally use old exam questions
for this purpose). Finally, it helps break down the “fear factor” that can paralyze some students when taking exams,
since it allows the instructor to emphasize that “difficulty is your friend, and seeing difficulty means you’re doing
a good job, rather than bombing the exam.”
Judith Wegner, University of North Carolina School of Law