1. Special thanks to Amanda Shea, graduate research assistant
Engendering Hope
Allison D. Martin
Kevin L. Rand
Special thanks to Amanda Shea, graduate research assistant

2. Video Clip
IU – Indy legal writing faculty created Real World video for law school “talent” show
Scene depicts moments before Ally teaches her first class at IU
Based on Ally McBeal television show
Unisex bathrooms
Theme songs
Cameo at end from former IU dean

3. Address Two Questions:
What is hope and why is it important to law students?
Kevin
How can legal writing professors engender hope in students?
Allison

4. Research About Law Student Discontent
Law students’ sense of well-being significantly declines over the course of their first year (Krieger, 2005)
Law school is “breeding ground” for stress-related illnesses, such as depression and anxiety (McKinney, 2002)

6. Positive Psychology
Scientific study of human strengths and their influences on performance and well-being (Seligman et al., 2000)
Hope and optimism are two personality traits that have been shown to confer performance and adjustment benefits – especially in stressful circumstances

7. Snyder’s (1994) Hope Theory
A cognitive model of human motivation:
Goals: mental targets that guide human behavior
Pathways Thinking: “Waypower”
Agentic Thinking: “Willpower”

8. Research on Hope in Undergraduate School
High-hope students tend:
To be more engaged in learning
To have less test anxiety
To stay focused on goals; think “on task”
Higher hope has been shown to predict:
Academic success above and beyond intelligence
Positive affect

9. Optimism (Scheier & Carver, 1985)
A generalized outcome expectancy
Has been shown to predict greater well-being even during periods of adversity, including recovery from cancer and adjustment to college
University of Virginia School of Law Study (Satterfield et al., 1997)

10. Hope v. Optimism Substantial theoretical and empirical overlap
Difference seems to relate to control
Hope = more strongly related to expectations for outcomes within a person’s control
Optimism = more strongly related to expectations for outcomes outside of a person’s control

11. Our Study
Do hope and optimism predict academic performance in law school above and beyond LSAT score and UGPA?
Do hope and optimism predict psychological well-being in law school?

12. Study Participants 29% of Fall 2007 entering first-year class
Self reported certain demographic information, LSAT scores, and UGPAs
Consented to our obtaining their first semester law school grades
Completed surveys during fall semester
Start of semester: Hope & optimism
End of semester: Life satisfaction

13. Results (* = Significant Relationship)
LSAT
Score
.13
Undergrad
GPA
.38*
Law School
GPA
.25*
.78
.21*
-.07
Hope
.39*
Life Satisfaction
.38*
.56
Optimism

14. Conclusions
Hope predicts law school academic performance above and beyond other markers of academic success.
Both hope and optimism predict better psychological adjustment in law students near the end of the semester.
Engendering hope among law students may foster better performance and psychological well-being.

15. II. How can legal writing professors engender hope in students?
Teachers can engender hope by enhancing three hope components: goals, pathways thinking, and agentic thinking
Based on these components, we created five principles

16. Five Principles: How to Engender Hope in Law Students
Help students formulate appropriate goals (goals)
Increase student autonomy (agency)
Model the learning process (goals, pathways, and agency)
Help students understand grading as feedback rather than as pure evaluation (pathways and agency)
Model agentic thinking (agency)

17. 1. Help students formulate appropriate goals
Learning v. Performance Goals
High-hope students tend to choose learning rather than performance goals
Not good: “I want an A in Legal Writing”
Better: “I want to learn how to organize using IRAC”

18. 1. Help students formulate appropriate goals
Concrete v. Abstract Goals
High-hope students tend to choose concrete goals
Not good: “ace the office memorandum”
Better: “work on the paper for 3 hours on Saturday”

19. 1. Help students formulate appropriate goals
Approach v. Avoidance Goals
High-hope students tend to choose approach goals
Not good: “work so I don’t fail Legal Writing”
Better: “work to understand IRAC”

20. 2. Increase Student Autonomy
Hope correlates positively with perceptions of control
Suggestions:
Offer optional drafts or conferences
For writing assignments, let students choose which client to represent/which outcome to predict
Must create balanced legal writing assignments
If you call on students, let them choose which days they will be “on call”

21. 3. Model the learning/writing process
Low-hope students try to meet a goal all at once, creating anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed
Suggestions:
Help students break long-range goals into steps or subgoals
Emphasize planning and preparation
“Think aloud” (Schwartz 2001)
Help them see preferred and alternate routes to reaching goals/sub-goals
Blockage = merely information that a particular strategy did not work

22. 4. Help students understand grading as feedback rather than as pure evaluation
High-hope students tend to use grading as feedback to help them reach their goals
Suggestions:
Provide formative assessment
Offer respectful, constructive feedback
Depersonalize grades

23. 5. Model and encourage agentic thinking
High-hope students have a “can do” attitude
Suggestions:
Encourage healthy habits
Teach students to talk to themselves in a positive voice
Tell and encourage stories of hope
Teach with enthusiasm
Humor
Be engaged in your materials
Dance in a law school bathroom???

24. Keeping Our Own Hope Alive
“It is difficult to model hope if you do not have hope yourself.” (Snyder, et al., 2003)
“Teachers and students have shared roles in keeping hope alive.” (Snyder, et al., 2002)
“If teachers and the program kill hope in their students, the students’ evaluations of the faculty, and the students’ work product, are weaker, leading in turn to faculty cynicism, disaffection, and disinterest.” (Jan Levine, 2008)

25. Keeping Our Own Hope Alive
Have a circumscribed set of goals for the class
Sometimes, less is more
Teach what excites you
Don’t assume responsibility for students’ goals
You can lead a horse to water
Reframe student failure for yourself
Failure, while unpleasant, is not inherently bad
Pursue your own interests outside of the classroom

26. A Call to Revitalize Legal Education
“Critics of the legal profession have pointed to a great profession suffering from varying degrees of confusion and demoralization.” (Sullivan et al., 2007)
Efforts by legal educators to revitalize legal education should include efforts to engender hope in law students.