Chasity-Question of the Week September 22:

Every semester I teach my students the IRAC format.  The IRAC format is a legal critical thinking tool that I learned in law school.  It is a useful tool in all subject areas.  Students (and some adults) can tell you the starting point and the ending point, but it gets a little cloudy in the middle.  They understand the end, but they cannot explain how they got there.  The IRAC format teaches them to critically think through the issues presented.  I taught the IRAC format and I got the blank stares and I knew that most of my students were slightly confused.  I kept teaching it everyday with every scenario that we used.  By the end of the week my students were able to apply the IRAC format in my class and explain to their classmates and me how they could apply the IRAC format in other classes as well (science, math, language arts, etc.).  I felt like I had given my students a tool that they could use for the rest of their academic careers.  It was very affirming.  I will continue to use the IRAC format in class as a tool for students critically think through the issues presented.  FYI – IRAC stands for Issue (Question Presented), Rule (Applicable Law), Analysis (Application of the facts to the rule), and Conclusion (The answer to the question presented).