Pennsylvania Bar Association Contact: Jennifer Branstetter, Communications Coordinator 100 South Street Harrisburg, PA 17108 E-mail: jennifer.branstetter@pabar.org Website: www.pabar.org CELEBRATE STUDENTS: JUDGES AND LAWYERS GO BACK TO SCHOOL Activity Summary: In partnership with county bar associations, the Pennsylvania Bar Association launched the first statewide coordinated Law Week effort, titled “Celebrate Students: Judges and Lawyers Go Back to School.” Over 1,000 judges and lawyers visited 1,000 Pennsylvania K-12 public, private and parochial schools, helping to educate children about their legal rights and responsibilities. The Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Temple University Beasley School of Law developed the Lesson Plan and Idea Guide for K-12 Classrooms to help educators, judges and lawyers bring the law to life for students. The guide includes law-related lesson plans for all grade levels, ready-to-copy handouts and useful information resources for educators. It is tied to the state Academic Standards for Civics and Government, with lesson plans correlated to specific standards. To make it easier for lawyers and schools to participate in Law Day 2000 and receive materials, the PBA established a toll-free hotline that matched callers to county bar activities. Activity Narrative: Beginning May 1 with statewide kick-off events and continuing through May 5, the Law Week 2000 celebration included over 1,000 judges and lawyers, who visited hundreds of Pennsylvania K-12 public, private and parochial schools. Designed by our Law Day 2000 Committee, which was composed of judges, lawyers and county bar executive directors, our Law Day 2000 celebration focused on getting judges and lawyers in as many classrooms as possible during the first week of May. Our goal was to educate children about their legal rights and responsibilities in the new millennium and draw attention to the law in a fun and informative manner. We also worked to help teachers recognize the need to continue law-related educational efforts in the future. To achieve these goals, the PBA, in conjunction with Temple-LEAP, developed the Lesson Plan & Idea Guide for K-12 Classrooms. This easy-to-use booklet provided judges and lawyers with everything they needed to visit classrooms. From actual lesson plans including directions for the presenter to ready-to-copy handouts to tips on delivery, this guide enabled judges and lawyers to step from the courtroom/office into the classroom with ease. To follow the ABA’s theme of democracy and diversity, we also included several lesson plans that were devoted to those areas. To get the word out about our new program, the PBA established a partnership with county bar associations across the state. As a Law Day 2000 partner, each county received several hundred free copies of the Lesson Plan & Idea Guide for K-12 Classrooms to distribute to their participating members and a camera-ready ad with its county bar information for the bar’s publication(s). In addition, the guide helps educators begin to prepare for the Proposed State Academic Standards for Civics and Government by correlating each lesson plan to the appropriate academic standards it satisfies. To make it easier for lawyers and schools to register for Law Day 2000 and receive materials, the PBA established a toll-free hotline. All calls received on the hotline were answered by the PBA and/or partnering county bar associations. After a call was received, a lesson plan guide was sent, along with the letter welcoming the school/judge to Law Day and explaining that he or she would be matched with a partner. All lawyer/judge and school matches were made throughout April, and individuals were contacted by letter or phone with that information. It then was up to the participants to schedule the visit. The PBA kicked off Law Week with two events on May 1. First, PBA President Lou Teti, Attorney General Mike Fisher and dozens of Pennsylvania lawyers taught classes at a local elementary school in Harrisburg. Second, the PBA Minority Bar Committee and Young Lawyers Division held in a similar Law Day program at an inner city high school in Philadelphia. The media covered both events. To make sure that we were able to give credit to the rest of the Law Day events that occurred across the state, we asked each county bar association to keep track of the lawyers/judges and schools that participated in the activities. The PBA’s inaugural Law Day program was a great success. Law Day activities were covered by television stations across the state and in over 50 Pennsylvania newspapers. Schools and educators welcomed the bar association’s assistance and commitment to students, and lawyers and judges welcomed the opportunity to give something back to their communities. The PBA looks forward to continuing and expanding the Law Day program in 2001. More about this program Sample Programs Home | By Audience | By Location | By Sponsoring Organization