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

Overcoming Sadness When It Drags You Down

Unless you ignore the news completely, you are aware of all the shootings and violence happening in our world recently. Yesterday it finally got to me, and it grabbed hold of me tightly. I was finishing up tutorials where one of my boys had come in to work on his writing portfolio. I clicked on my Facebook app and saw the news about the shooting in California. He and I were both shocked, and I left school feeling like I needed to cry.


This morning I felt it even more heavily, especially since the news seems to have a constant stream of updates and new information. I am thankful for the news. I am also disgusted and saddened that this has happened yet again. I know something needs to be done, but I am not at all confident that anything will be done anytime soon.


That sadness has permeated my world today and I needed to do something about it. My students write in their journals every day to a specific prompt word, their journal writing is also supposed to be in a specific style. I decided that I needed my kids to help me see some light in this all too dark world. It has been my experience that when I am down or feeling the horrors of the world close in on my heart that my kids are most often the ones to help me through it and into the light of hope.


So, instead of writing a journal prompt today, here is what I put up on the board:

Like always, they came through. Here are just a few of the beautiful notes my kids wrote and will then spread to random people in the hallway today. I love that so many of them have added the phrase "pass it on" somewhere on their cards. I even had several who wanted to do more than one.

When you feel down, let your kids know. It's important they see you as real people, and they will usually take an extra few minutes to help bring you up.

Entering the World Wide Web

As a teacher, it is often incredibly hard and time consuming to create and build things to use in the classroom. Most of us have created things that we used once and didn't like how it worked so put it away to either fix later or never look at again. I try to adapt things quickly, and because of that I have things to put out into the world via the Internet.




I've also realized recently that I have to start repaying my student loans soon (ugh). I have almost $100,000 in student loans, BUT it has gotten me almost three degrees (I will be a doctor in 2016), and IT WAS WORTH IT!






When I discovered I'd have an additional bill soon, I freaked out some. I mean, come on, I'm a teacher and we don't make that much money...and I get paid once a month. Until I remembered the awesome site, teacherspayteachers.com. I've had a store on there since 2010 but never made very much money, so I went to one of my coworkers who is a superstar there and got some advice.




For the past week or so I've been working to make my store more appealing and increase my goods (something I'm still working on doing). I'm actually really pleased with how I've rebuilt things and have increased my followers some - but I'd like more (hint hint hint).






A teacher store like this is something I believe all teachers should have in their tooldbox, there is no reason for us to reinvent the wheel, sometimes we just need to change its color.






Please stop by my store and see if there is anything that would be useful to you, if not I'm happy to take suggestions and of course encourage you to visit other teacher stores!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Channeling-Ms-Frizzle

It Begins!

My 12th year in the classroom began today, and my feet are killing me! Like always, I choose a first day of school outfit that I think is adorable, this year it is one my husband picked out for me. The shoes I wore however tried to kill me (and they had never been uncomfortable before)! Tomorrow I will be wearing my trusty flats!

As my students from last year stopped by for hugs and to say hi, I got lots of compliments from them on the changes I've made to my room. They all noticed the additions of color and arm chairs, several were jealous I didn't have them last year. It thrilled me to have them appreciate the hard work I put into making my room more cheery. Many of my new kiddos also complimented my room and I'm sure they are ready to use the arm chairs on Friday when we read independent texts (thank you Donalyn Miller!).

Something that surprised me is how many of my new students feel like the charging station I've added is a total bonus for them. It is really just so I have an additional place to keep their cell phones, which I will take up each day. I discovered last year that if I collect phones during class, we have better discussions and an overall stronger learning experience.

I have also been working on making sure I eat well this year, including doing food preparation on Sundays so I don't just come home and eat popcorn (something my husband thinks is all I eat when he isn't here). So far so good! I bought a bento box style luck box and it has been working on really well. I am even finding that I can't finish my lunch (which gives me a snack for after school!).

As the week continues, I will have to get back on track and continue to work on my comps for my doctoral program. I have set several deadlines for myself this semester, and am hoping that the plans I have put into place will help me stay on top of things and meet all of my deadlines.

To my fellow teachers, have an outstanding year!

Preparing for the year (or an ode to Pinterest...and my mother)

I've had a busy summer, and have loved just about all of it. The only part I haven't enjoyed was starting the summer with a diagnosis of a gallstone that has been a part of my life for about 20 years! It has affected me so much this summer I even gave it a name, Hugo. Hugo will be coming out at the beginning of August, which means I'll be in recovery during my first week back at work (thankfully we won't have kids there yet). I am also in the proposal stage of my dissertation, which means I'll be doing lots of travel and research and writing this school year, so I'm trying to build everything I possibly can to make my life a little less stressful.

Because of all of those things, I have already begun redoing my classroom.

I decided last year that I wanted a couple of reading "nooks" in my room; I had several kids who loved sitting in the back of the room when I had desks there. I have also decided that Fridays will be independent reading days for my kids and have stolen Donalyn Miller's rule of books to read for the year (and adapted it for my skeptical darlings). My kids will have 30 texts to read this year, 15 of which are magazine articles (to make it less scary and harrowing).

Here is where Pinterest comes into play!

Once I decided I wanted my kids to read so much more on their own, because seriously the best way to become a better reader is to read like a fiend, I realized I wanted a way to display different genres at different times. So I started exploring Pinterest. I found several pins about using rain gutters for houses as small shelves in their children's rooms. I also found a way to make my own chalkboard paint. I put the two together and prayed it would work. I was able to find all the supplies I needed at my local Home Depot, and didn't need to buy whole gallons of paint. They have sample sizes you can buy for something like $3.00 (seriously the best way to paint things for the classroom).

  The beginning of my first project for the classroom this summer.

 

Add a tablespoon of unsanded grout to a cup of paint and stir well.

After roughing up the vinyl (it needs to be a little porous) and priming with plastic friendly spray paint, start painting!

I really enjoyed this project and so far they are hanging well in my classroom. I have the dreaded concrete walls that seem to hold nothing, but I found some heavy duty mounting tape by Scotch for outdoor use. According to its packaging, it will hold up to 20 pounds! I don't plan on putting 20 pounds of books in these, so it should be perfect!

The other big project I did this summer for my room was to re-cover four arm chairs to use in my reading "nooks". Thank goodness for my mother! She came up twice to help me strip, paint, recover, and move my chairs. We always have a great time together, and she is super crafty and has made just about everything! (Currently she is making t-shirt quilts for people, and they are awesome). When we had finished our chairs, we couldn't keep ourselves from admiring them and thinking how awesome we are.

The last time Mom was up, I was finally able to get into my room, so we went up and got started. I had also bought some adhesive cork boards from Oriental Trading (man I love that place) to use on a spot under the clock in my room that is just ugly. I figured I can use the little cork boards as a place to hang announcements and words of inspiration I find during the year. I also hung one of my rain gutter shelves there to use as a place for any extra handouts (I am horrible at just stacking things and then losing them - maybe this will help).

Above are a couple of pictures of what we did. I am all about color this year, probably because the concrete wall rooms often feel like cells (who wants to learn in a cell!). Mom also helped me make some scrabble letters (see them?) out of scrap material my dad had gotten from a site. I am pretty happy so far, only a few things left to do before I am not allowed to lift and move things for several weeks. None of these projects cost me much money, but they do take some time. When it comes to time for my room (a place I sort of live in during the school year), I have no problem spending it!