“Pregnant teens forced to give birth while shackled. Influencer parents exploiting their children online for clicks. Homes, childhoods, and family histories lost to gentrification. Mandatory curfews that make a crime of homelessness.
All these are issues students in my Politics of Juvenile Justice Course researched, described, critiqued, and proposed to solve in a semester-long project,” wrote Toni Marsh, associate professor and program director of the Paralegal Studies master’s degree program.
Marsh was recently selected to receive a 2024 Writing in the Disciplines (WID) Best Assignment Design Award for demonstrating excellence through her assignment design and implementation.
Her Writing in the Disciplines (WID) course is designed to help GW students develop a robust writing practice throughout their academic careers, starting with intensive attention to writing in a specific topic area.
Marsh says her teaching technique combines her legal knowledge with a carefully designed curriculum. She challenges students to improve their writing through a multi-step process while researching juvenile justice issues and solutions.
Students in the class write an op-ed that describes a juvenile justice problem and proposes a solution. Then they draft a bill to implement that solution and identify a legislator to champion the bill, coin a hashtag to inspire grassroots support, and finally present their project to the class. The resulting final project served as a writing sample for several grad school and law school bound seniors— demonstrating the true importance of Marsh's expertise and carefully designed curriculum.
The Best Assignment Design Award will be presented to Toni on April 23, 2024 at GW's 14th Annual Faculty Honors Ceremony.