Program
Highlights
1. Rhode Island Mock Trial Tournament (Grades 6-8, 9-12)
Students form teams and assume the roles of attorneys and witnesses in a given case in this annual statewide tournament. Under the guidance of a lawyer and teacher, the students prepare both the plaintiff's and defendant's cases. Members of the Rhode Island judiciary preside over tournament trials and attorneys act as performance judges. Tournaments are offered at both the senior high and junior high/middle school levels. Over 1500 students on 70 or more teams participate annually from November to May. Program partners include the Rhode Island Bar Foundation, the Rhode Island Supreme Court, Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and RSVP. The tournament will celebrate its 20th anniversary in 2004.
E-mail RIMockTrial@aol.com for information.
2. Summer Institutes on the Courts (educators)
The Partnership has co-sponsored these graduate courses with the Rhode Island Supreme Court each year since 1987. Rhode Island College is also a program partner. Currently, three courses, Courts, Laws, and Schools, Family Court and Schools, and Classroom to Courtroom offer a behind the scenes look at the workings of the court system.
E-mail RILegalEdu@aol.com for information about the Summer Institutes.
3. Court-School Programs (Grades 9-12, and adults)
The Partnership periodically brings judges and educators or students together for discussions. A Symposium on the Courts and programs such as A Day in Court for Educators: Schools, Juvenile Justice, and Confidentiality and a Day in Court for Students were produced with these program partners: the Rhode Island Supreme and Family Courts and the Rhode Island Trial Judges Association.
4. Conflict Resolution/Peer Mediation Training (Grades K-8)
Partnership staff has provided conflict resolution/peer mediation training for elementary and secondary school aged students. Training can be provided for a school-wide program; individual classes; special projects; in schools or community settings.
5. Project PEACE (parents, teachers and attorneys)
In 2000, the Partnership introduced Project PEACE (Peaceful Endings Through Attorneys, Children, and Educators) to Rhode Island. This anti-bullying program for elementary schools combines mediation techniques with basic LRE methodology. It has been successfully implemented in Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, as well as Rhode Island.
6. Lawyer-Teacher Partnerships
Working classroom relationships are developed between an educator and an attorney. The Partnership provides material and support for the partners. This is the Partnership oldest program, begun in 1982.
7. Teacher Training Workshops
Partnership staff, experienced classroom teachers, attorneys, police officers, and other outside resource persons are available to offer K-12 staff-development workshops on topics ranging from the Constitution to school law to law-related education (LRE) methodology. Workshops can be chosen from a prepared list or tailored to school needs. Rhode Island College partners introduce pre-service teachers to LRE.
8. Lending Library
The Partnership has an LRE library (books, videotapes, audio tapes, and software) for circulation. The collection includes lessons and other resources from The Warren E. Burger National Repository for Educational Materials on Citizenship and the Constitution.
9. Reference Library
The Partnership maintains a library of mediation and conflict resolution materials. These books, videos, and software programs provide educators with ideas and resources for classroom or school-wide programs to assist them in creating peaceable schools.
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Product
Highlights
- Mock Trial Handbooks
The Partnership has published a new mock trial handbook each year since 1984
The agency has also produced nine LRE publications for use by educators:
- Rhode Island Curriculum and the Law
is a manual for incorporating law-related education into the curriculum.
- Lawyers with Class: Legal Partners in Rhode Island Classrooms
provides lawyers and teachers information and resources to form lawyer/teacher partnerships.
- Your Curriculum and the Law: Integrative and Interdisciplinary Strategies contains lesson plans using various strategies that can be incorporated into existing curriculum in grades K-12.
- Goldilocks Goes on Trial
is a videotape and lesson plan guide which teaches jury selection.
- Drugs and the Law in Rhode Island
includes background information and interviews with attorneys, judges, and law enforcement officials on ten actual drug-related cases as well as lessons for elementary and secondary instruction. Rhode Island
- Classrooms and the Law provides teachers and administrators with relevant information on laws that have an impact on Rhode Island classrooms as well as suggested teaching activities related to these laws.
- Rhode Island and the Constitution: U.S. Supreme Court Cases Originating in Rhode Island
offers students an in-depth look at the decisions in six landmark cases.
- Students and the Law: Respecting the Rights of Others
provides activities for elementary and secondary students.
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