Bronx Teacher’s Big Idea Opens Doors For Kids
<p><em>By Jennifer Connolly</em></p>
<p>When I returned to teaching 16 years ago, after leaving to get my law degree and license, I was asked to teach an Introduction to Law class. </p>
<p>I enjoyed law school, so I set the class up as a survey course. I utilized concepts such as Socratic seminar and asked students to analyze and apply the law to hypothetical situations. </p>
<p>Students enjoyed the class and it quickly became one of the popular electives. But after a few years of teaching the course, I realized that many students thought that having a career in law meant going to law school and becoming an attorney like I did. </p>
<p>I tried to impress upon them that there were many opportunities open to them, many of which did not require law school, or even a four-year college degree. </p>
<p>To drive that point home, I started a Legal Career Fair. </p>
<p>Students were assigned a law-related career to research and present to the class. They received extra credit if they were able to interview someone who had the job. </p>
<p>Students listened to their classmates present information on jobs like paralegal, Fire Marshal, calendar clerk, and General Counsel.</p>
<p>One year, after the presentations were complete, a student approached me with a real interest in becoming a legal secretary. </p>
<p>She used the school counseling department to find out more about the options for training and certifications, and within 18 months of her high school graduation she was finished! </p>
<p>She was able to get a job at a large immigration law firm, and to experience life in Manhattan and all that goes with it. She successfully advanced to become the secretary for one of the partners, and she was able to travel with him for various cases. </p>
<p>She did this for about 10 years before she decided to put her career on hold and stay home with her family. </p>
<p>As a young woman from the Bronx, whose parents had not attended college, she feels strongly that her life was positively impacted by that Career Fair experience and job. </p>
<p><em>Jenniffer Connolly is the History Department Chair at Preston High School in the Bronx, NY. </em></p>