15. Real Life and the Classroom

Abstract

The choices teachers make about both form and content in designing their courses shape students’ perceptions of the connection between ‘real life’ and the classroom. The choice to begin a first-year law course with stories told by residential school survivors provides an example of how to bring ‘real life’ into the classroom in a way which develops both critical understanding of ideas and capacity for identity-based roles and responsibilities. Classroom and ‘real life’ merge through issues and pedagogical approaches that combine deep reflection with active participation.