There are four components to my teaching philosophy.
A. Building Blocks: Guiding students to acquire knowledge incrementally
First, my overarching teaching philosophy is to help students to attain knowledge in a systematic and incremental manner that also equips them to critique the knowledge they acquire. My methodological approach can be described using the metaphor of building blocks. This means I approach learning as constructing knowledge, with each lesson being used to construct a coherent body of ideas.
The building blocks method of teaching is especially appropriate for undergraduate students learning law for the first time as they are often overwhelmed by the amount of new material and the use of unfamiliar concepts. Through this method, I allow my students to see each lesson as an extension of the previous one. Thus, one technique that I use is to start every class with a brief review of the main ideas covered in the previous session. This not only encourages the students to recall the previous lessons, thus reinforcing the ideas learnt in their minds, but also allows them to link the present class to previously covered material. The consistent use of this method pushes the students to mentally relate concepts between lessons so that they are able to see the law as a coherent whole, thus providing a macro-understanding of the subject matter.
For example, in my Constitutional and Administrative Law tutorials, I start the first class by guiding my students into identifying the main organizing principle of public law, which is the establishment and limitation of public power. With that organizing principle at hand, I then ask them to join me in drawing a framework on the white board using various principles and theories that they encountered in their first lectures and reading materials. This helps the students to visualize the relationship between various theories and concepts. Once my students and I have developed a visual framework, I re-introduce it at the start of every subsequent class to highlight how the particular lesson connects to the rest. Thus, in every class, students are able to learn the specifics of the topic as well as see how it fits into to the overall subject of Constitutional and Administrative Law.
B. Class Participation: Fostering a Safe Environment for Discussion and Critical
Reflection
I consider the active encouragement of class participation not an optional but an essential aspect of my teaching. In order to make students feel comfortable about speaking up in tutorials and seminars, I usually start the first class by asking students to introduce themselves and tell me something interesting about them that I would not find on their CV. This exercise often breaks the ice and gives me a chance to get to know my students better. It is especially useful to get introverted students to start speaking in class and has, in my estimation, generally led to greater class participation.
On class discussions, I generate conversation by asking students broad questions to get them to start thinking about the issues in a relevant way. For example, I start the class on freedom of speech by asking them why should we protect the right to free speech? In the freedom of religion class, I would ask questions such as: should non-religious persons care about freedom of religion? Such questions are meant to provoke the students into thinking about the issues in a way that is tangible to them.
In this regard, I also encourage students to reflect upon their personal experiences. For instance, in Crossing Borders, I once showed students a short video documenting how foreign domestic workers spend their rest days, and this included footage of them shopping, eating and spending time with their friends and partners. I asked how many found the footage discomforting and asked them to reflect as to why that was the case. This forced some of the students to confront their own prejudices about foreign domestic workers, as being 'helpers' or 'maids', and to see them as persons who have interests and spend their time doing activities just as anybody else would. As I put it to them what's the difference between Lucky Plaza and Far East Plaza (where many young people spend their time doing the same activities such as shopping, eating, spending time with friends and partners, etc.)?
Furthermore, to me, the classroom should be a safe environment for students to make mistakes. I am always careful to be respectful of students views and not to impose mine on them. In fact, I make sure that they know that they are free to share their opinions, even if controversial. I do so also with the aim of being a good role model for other students, so that they remain respectful of the opinions of others. As such, I was particularly happy to receive feedback from my students praising the classroom environment as conducive for respectful discussions. For instance, one of my students wrote in a personal email that I am one of the few professors he encountered in law school that 'managed to create a conducive, collegiate, comfortable, non-intimidating, non-competitive class environment for genuine active participation, discussion and inquiry.'
One commitment that I have towards class participation is that I always look for the gem within each students comment. I make an effort to help students refine their thoughts by filtering out important ideas in their comments and/or by encouraging them to rephrase their thoughts in a way that strengthens their position. For me, the commitment to the claim that 'There are no stupid questions' is one that I take seriously in the classroom context, and I take great pride in the fact that students have acknowledged this in their teaching feedback. For instance, one student expressed that '[s]he never makes me feel stupid if I answer wrongly, and always brings up such wonderful points that never would've crossed my mind'.

C. Application and Consequences: Encourage Students to Think Beyond the Classroom
I approach law as a live subject. What this means is that I encourage students to think beyond the classroom, to apply the law and to consider the consequences of various legal doctrines. I do this by drawing links between the subject matter and current affairs. For instance, in teaching Public Law (recently renamed Constitutional and Administrative Law), I raise at least one ongoing case or dispute in my lectures and seminars so as to leverage on my students interests in contemporary affairs. For instance, two years ago, when discussing religious freedom in one of the seminars, I divided the students into two groups to present arguments on the then ongoing employment dispute between the Faith Community Baptist Church and the Ministry of Manpower concerning the summary dismissal of a pregnant employee. This year, I asked students to consider the Prime Ministers convening of the Constitutional Commission, specifically to consider the issue of race and democracy in our classes on equality. I also alert my tutorial groups to contemporary pieces in the news relating to constitutional law in order to reinforce the daily relevance of what they learn in the classroom.
Similarly, for my Singapore Law in Context classes, I organized a visit to Parliament where my students had the opportunity to watch Parliament in session. I also invited members of the legal profession to come and speak to the students about their experiences so as to help the first-year students have a better idea of how law works in practice. Through these guest lectures, students received insights into the practice of criminal law, international arbitration, as well as public interest litigation. In an effort to educate them about legal ethics and professional responsibility, I also invited the Vice-President of the Law Society to give a talk about professional ethics and the disciplinary proceedings process.
Another way in which I have encouraged students to think beyond the classroom is by exposing them to various volunteering initiatives where their legal skills could be usefully employed. Several of my students in my Crossing Borders: Law, Migration, and Citizenship course volunteered at legal clinics for migrant workers, on their own time as well as for their mid-term assignment. One student went beyond his fieldwork and organized a youth conference on migration. Titled Crossing Borders in a Troubled World: A Youth Conference on Transnational Migration, the conference attracted undergraduate and graduate students from Singapore as well as overseas. I served as faculty adviser for the conference and worked closely with the student organizer to review the submissions. In line with my commitment to help students publish their research output, I co-opted some colleagues from the faculty to give the students feedback on their papers so as to help them improve their work. Some of the papers were accepted for publication in the Singapore Law Review.

D. Creating Useful Work Products: Publishing Research Outputs
As part of my teaching philosophy of making law relevant and the learning of law practical, I also encourage students to turn their research work, where applicable, into publishable pieces. For instance, I encouraged one of my students who did a Directed Research module under my supervision to work further on his paper and improve it for publication. I continued to give him feedback on his drafts months after the semester was over and guided him through his revision process. When he received a rejection to his first submission, he was dejected but I continued to encourage him by sharing my own experience with journal rejection. I am proud to say that he persevered and that his article has since been published by the Singapore Academy of Law Journal. The article was even featured in the Straits Times.






Building Blocks Method

My main methodology is the building blocks method of teaching. This method approaches learning as constructing a building, with each lesson and concept as building blocks set one upon another, until there is a coherent whole.

The building blocks method of teaching is especially appropriate for undergraduate students learning law for the first time as they are often overwhelmed by the amount of material and new concepts involved. Through this method, I hope to help them learn each lesson as an extension of the previous one. Thus, one technique is that I start every class reviewing the main ideas of the previous class for about five to ten minutes. This not only forces them to recall the previous lessons, thus reinforcing the ideas learnt in their minds, but also challenges them to reflect upon the links between the previous lesson and the present one. The aim is to push them to mentally relate concepts between lessons so that they are able to later reflect upon the whole curriculum and see the law as a coherent whole, thus providing a macro-understanding of the law.

It should be clarified that the building blocks method is not based on rules- learning, but doctrinal analysis. Students should be required to examine the content of a legal opinion, evaluate the effectiveness of the opinions reasoning and to explore the implications for future cases. Thus, students will be required to reflect upon the underlying theoretical and philosophical influences moulding the legal doctrines as well as on the overarching objectives of the law. This way, students should be required to engage the law from descriptive, normative and prescriptive perspectives.

References: Emerson H. Tiller & Frank B. Cross, What is Legal Doctrine?, Northwestern University School of Law, Public Law & Legal Theory Research Paper Series, Research Paper No. 05-06, (May 2005).