Role-play in the Classroom

I love doing role-play with my students, and they seem to really enjoy it too. When we play role-play games with a text, it gives them the chance to experience something in the text, usually something there is no way they could actually experience in life. I have found that those role-play activities help my shy students come a little further out of their shells, my confused students clear up their thoughts about the text, and my leaders step up and take charge. It is really a rewarding experience for all.


One of my very favorite role-play activities happened in my classroom last year. My students and I were reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and I had just begun to experiment with using drama pedagogy for an entire text instead of just in bits and spurts. When my students came into class that day, they were each handed a character from the novel and then segregated accordingly. I informed them that we were going to have a town meeting and had to decide on several things, but we had to decide on them together. I also informed them that since we were role-playing and they were all characters from the text, they had to be segregated and also had to think carefully about how that character might actually respond in a town hall meeting at the time.


One class period got into the role-play deeply. There were lewd comments from the Ewell father, the reverend attempted to stand up for the Black community in the town, and the teacher who had just moved to town was not trusted and ended up losing wages. What my students discovered during the role-play, especially my students who had struggled with the text, was that the town would never really be able to make a decision together. The student playing the reverend who had simply tried to stand up for his community ended up being taken to jail for his own safety from Mr. Ewell. In that one class period, my students began to understand the world of the novel much more realistically and deeply than if they had just read the book. For many in that class, it was eye opening to see what the community of Maycomb was actually like.


Role-play does not have to be something that you have planned out weeks or months in advance, it can be something as simply as our town hall meeting; however, you do have to be prepared for whatever the students might say in role. My student playing Bob Ewell knew that the character was a drunk and rude man, and I fully expected the student to play the part appropriately to the character; he didn't disappoint.


When planning a role-play for your students, always start with a goal. If you don't know what you hope to get out of the activity, it will quickly deteriorate from a learning experience to students getting off track and into their own conversations. You also need to tell the students you are going to do a role-play and lay out the rules and expectations of it clearly. If you are engaging in a role-play that may make students uncomfortable, have a specific phrase you will say if things get out of hand. I am a fan of telling them that "stop" or "freeze" are my words. If students hear me say the word, they must immediately respond. Since I explain that the word is meant to keep the role-play focused and people from being uncomfortable or concerned for themselves, the students have always understood and complied.


I encourage you to see what type of role-play you can add into your next novel study. I promise it will help the classroom discussion of the text be much more interesting and engaging.


For more ideas or for a drama pedagogy unit, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Channeling-Ms-Frizzle

Writing in Role





I love using writing in role with my students, it is good for all of them and always fun for me to read. There are several ways you can do writing in role, and I feel like I've tried them all. I've asked students to write a letter home telling their parents what it's like in a situation. I've asked students to write short pieces talking about a specific event from the text and how there character feels about it. I've asked students to write as a character who is a part of the story but not actually a part of the plot (i.e. a Nazi in The Book Thief by Markus Zusak).

When students write in role, they are doing more than just writing something on a piece of paper. They are making inferences, they are testing their comprehension of a story, they are exploring characterization, and sometimes they are identifying themes and nuances within the story. Their writing shows you how well they are actually understanding the text.

Below are a few examples from students past and present. Not all of the writers are strong writers, but each was able to achieve the goal of writing in role.

The first two are from reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding with a sophomore class. The students were asked to write as a character from the novel and explain how that character feels about life on the island.

 

The next example is from a senior class several years ago that had read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. This writer had always had a wonderful imagination, but had often struggled with the conventions of writing. In this piece, she speaks as each of the three primary characters in the novel.

You'll see that none of the pieces is perfect, that is not the point of writing in role. The goal of writing in role is to help students explore a text and share their ideas about it. The goal is also to give you the chance to really see how well they are understanding the text.

Writing in role is one of my favorite writing assignments to do with students and can be done with ANY text.

As we near the end of the semester and the testing season (at least in Texas), I recommend you try some writing in role with your students. I can almost guarantee you will have high engagement from them!

For more information or ideas, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers Store! https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Channeling-Ms-Frizzle



The Games We Play - Using Drama Pedagogy in My Classroom

Play has always been an important part of learning for people of all ages. Many of us only truly learn something when we get to "do" it and make mistakes, play is the basis of the "doing". In my classroom, like in many around the world, I have students of all levels. Students I want to reach. Students I want to help enjoy the learning process. Students who may not be reading at a high school level, yet are in high school and nearing graduation.


I find I am able to help those students in many ways when I introduce drama pedagogy activities to them as we read novels in class. My students enjoy the novel, they enjoy getting to "interact" with the characters and the story, and for many of those students who have never before been able to think deeply about a text, they can make inferences and support their ideas. All through the use of playing with drama pedagogy.


My dissertation is on that very subject, using drama pedagogy in the secondary classroom.


Too many of us want to incorporate some fun and play into our classrooms but may not know how to do it. For that reason, I have decided to write a small series on the blog about how I have used different drama pedagogy activities in my classroom in the hopes of inspiring you to incorporate some of them into you classrooms!


I hope you enjoy and I hope you are able to begin to play in your classroom some!


If you would like to purchase some drama pedagogy units, please visit my TeachersPayTeachers store!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Channeling-Ms-Frizzle