Professor Patricia Montana presented at the Legal Writing Institute’s One-Day Workshop on Developing Life-Long Learners hosted by St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas, on December 13, 2019.
![montana[1]](https://stjlawfaculty.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/montana1.jpg?w=260&h=189)
Patricia Montana
In her presentation, titled Diving, Not Cannonballing, Into a Case, Professor Montana discussed how using analogies is a great teaching device to help new law students understand the process of legal analysis. By connecting lessons on critical reading, rule synthesis, and rule application to familiar experiences, law students are more comfortable with the process, more open to the challenge, and more engaged with the material. In the presentation, Professor Montana explored several analogies that she uses in her first semester legal writing course, including her dive, don’t cannonball analogy, which reinforces the idea that students must read with a clear purpose.
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