Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project at Colorado Law
Overview
The Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project provides upper-level law students with the opportunity to teach the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to public school students in area high schools. The Project was founded at American University Law School in 1999 and has since expanded to law schools all over the country.
Colorado Law students interested in serving as Marshall-Brennan Fellows must apply to join the class. Those students selected will participate in a weekly seminar in which they will learn constitutional law relevant to students and schools. Topics covered include the First, Fourth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The law students will also receive training on how to teach effectively and will examine both state and federal education law and policy.
The Marshall-Brennan Fellows will be assigned to public schools in teams of two or three, and will lead high school students through highlights of thirty-nine of the most important Supreme Court cases affecting the rights and responsibilities of students. In addition to leading regular class sessions throughout the year, the Fellows will coach high schools students as they participate in a local moot court competition that will take place in January 2012. The four high school students who win the local competition will travel to Washington D.C. to participate in the National Marshall-Brennan Moot Court Competition later in the spring.
The Marshall-Brennan Project gives law students an opportunity to learn constitutional law at a deeper level and to develop their presentation and management skills as they work with high school students in class and on the moot court competition. At the same time, the Project seeks to provide high school students with the analytical skills and knowledge they need to become effective participants in our Constitutional democracy.
2011-2012 Colorado Law Marshall-Brennan Teaching Fellows
| Ashley Andrew (3L) | Rachel Marx (3L) |
| Shahar Atary (2L) | Gordon McLaughlin (3L) |
| Angela Banducci (3L) | Laura McNabb (3L) |
| Johanna Blumenthal (3L) | Sarah Morris (2L) |
| Elizabeth Bonanno (3L) | Bridget Newman (3L) |
| Joseph Cash (2L) | Sara Radke (3L) |
| Elizabeth Froehlke (3L) | Kira Robinson (3L) |
| William Jackson (3L) | Jessica Smith (2L) |
| Ashlee Jones (3L) | Ryan Thurber (2L) |
| Tonya Luna (2L) |
Newsletter
Coming soon! Check back in December of 2011 for an end of fall semester newsletter.
Resources
Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-75GhUDE9ck
Participating Marshall-Brennan law schools:
