Saturday, March 5, 2011

The Trial of the Big Bad Wolf

On Tuesday March 1st, I volunteered to help out my Torts professor from last semester in a little community volunteering project. He was on the news several years ago talking about the loss of civics classes in elementary schools; now he plans and executes, with the help of some students and staff, this field trip for elementary kids to get an up-close and personal look at the Constitution and what a court room experience is like. 


The kids arrived around 10 AM and split up into two equal size groups. One group went downstairs where they learned about some Constitutional principles, forensics, and talked about eyewitness testimony. I wasn't downstairs, but I know that at one point another law student walked into the room and stole someone's lunch off the desk. The campus police person who was giving the lecture then brought in several law students and had the kids try to pick out which person stole the lunch. All the law students were girls of similar height and build and wearing all black. The kids had a hard time picking out which girl had done the stealing--thus illustrating the problems in court with eyewitness testimony! 


The second group of students, while the forensics lesson was going on downstairs, was upstairs in the Law Moot Courtroom learning about Constitutional rights and what happens during a trial. The kids all became members of the jury, Professor Turley became the judge, some of the law students transformed into a prosecutor and defense attorney, and the rest of us turned into witnesses and bailiffs for THE TRIAL OF B.B. WOLF!

The trial of B.B. Wolf (get it? B.B. stood for Big Bad!) was not a script... we had to act it out as we went. Thankfully, I have heard the story of the three little pigs since I was tiny. I played the part of Curly Pig, the witness to the murders of my two piglet brothers, Larry and Mo, and the victim of an attempted murder by BB Wolf. 
 After the trial was complete, the kids voted on the charges alleged against BB Wolf. Both of the groups found him innocent of the charges! Haha it was a fun little exercise overall. I got to brush off my acting skillz. Plus, I haven't seen kids in forever! I'm serious! The law school is not exactly teeming with children haha. The kids asked us lots of questions afterward about trials and courts. Then they were served cookies and milk outside! A few of them thought they figured out what really happened. They decided I'd killed my piglet brothers because I was jealous! Oh kids... 
**Updated with pictures from the professional!**
BB Wolf opened up a bag of PORK rinds while I gave my testimony!
Giving my testimony!
When I was being accused of killing my own pig brothers perhaps?

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