Role Play Success!!!
I was nervous about trying out role play with a spirited 11th grade class. My procedures are still undergoing tests in that classroom; I'm trying to establish what our classroom is going to be like - how we enter, how we hand in homework, how we take notes, how we conduct all-class discussions etc. Last year in the tenth grade doing role play was always a) extremely effective at stimulating discussion and learning and b) always a risk because if the class had a particularly energetic day the atmosphere in the room could get too hectic for learning. There would be clapping that got too raucous, there would be students who wouldn't stop jeering their classmates on. There would be students who wouldn't stay seated during performances. And in those cases the possibility for constructive feedback was almost nil.
Monica and I discussed how procedures for role play needed to be established at the beginning of the year. So today, before the students came into class I wrote on the board
Role Play
- everyone is involved
- watch without talking
- two-clap treatment
- constructive feedback
Before we discussed the role play scenario, I spoke to the class about these expectations. Then I put them into groups, which I had assigned on the board, and they set about working on their skits. (Scenario: A teenager talks to two other people about his or her dream).
We had some great dreams. One boy broke out in a hilarious stand-up routine in front of his parents (he dreamt of being a comedian) while another girl told her uncomprehending parents that she wanted to be an actress. It went like this:
Girl: Mom, Dad, I have something to tell you. I dream of being an actress.
Mom: You mean a doctor?
Girl: No, an actress.
Mom: Don't be ridiculous. You are going to be a doctor. I need $25,000 a year!
Dad: You're both wrong. Daughter, you will not be an actress, and you will not be a doctor. You can marry a man who's a doctor. Don't marry a man who's an actor. Have you done the dishes?"
There was one point where there was talking during the presentation, and we stopped and I pointed out the "Watch without talking" expectation on the board. We started again and there was no talking. After each performance there was a neat two-clap treatment. That's when I say "Two claps one-two!" and everyone claps twice in unison. I reout meekly the way classroom applause can (I remember that mostly from my own days as a student). I wasn't at all sure how they would like the two-clap thing (is it too childish? Too campy?) but all four sections have warmed to it.
After the role plays we had a truly excellent discussion on what comes up around "dreams". There were great comments about the source of parental expectations (traditions, culture, past experiences), stereotypes, and a good discussion about whether goals are more achievable than dreams.
We ended the class with one round of our new spelling game, a competition between the two English A sections, called "Basket of DOOM." It's modelled after a game we played in my fourth grade math class, where the teacher had a felt bag with a duct tape scull and cross bones on the front, filled with laminated pieces of paper with math words on them, like "factor" and "product" and "least common denominator" which she would draw and we would have to define. We loved it. We won stickers an such for a series of correct answers.
The English A version involves a cute basket labelled "DOOM" in which popsicle sticks with spelling words written on them lie in wait. I draw a student's name, then the student gets to try to spell words I draw out of the basket. If she gets three right, then her class gets a gold star on the DOOM Chart. Dana played today, and while she spelled "grateful" correctly, she added an "e" to proving, so her team will have to wait until next week to try for its first star. I think everyone left the class feeling good.
Oh my goodness I forgot to mention the whole reason I started this post. "The Way They Watch" refers to the way students watch a teacher whenever classmates do something unexpected or abnormal. During the role plays some of the students got into their roles and were dramatic or funny. I saw students turn to look at me to gauge my reaction to such abnormalities. I was smiling and laughing with them, and glad that they were seeing that it's ok to be themselves and express themselves in the class - that it's a place that welcomes humour, in the right context. I loved my job today.
I was nervous about trying out role play with a spirited 11th grade class. My procedures are still undergoing tests in that classroom; I'm trying to establish what our classroom is going to be like - how we enter, how we hand in homework, how we take notes, how we conduct all-class discussions etc. Last year in the tenth grade doing role play was always a) extremely effective at stimulating discussion and learning and b) always a risk because if the class had a particularly energetic day the atmosphere in the room could get too hectic for learning. There would be clapping that got too raucous, there would be students who wouldn't stop jeering their classmates on. There would be students who wouldn't stay seated during performances. And in those cases the possibility for constructive feedback was almost nil.
Monica and I discussed how procedures for role play needed to be established at the beginning of the year. So today, before the students came into class I wrote on the board
Role Play
- everyone is involved
- watch without talking
- two-clap treatment
- constructive feedback
Before we discussed the role play scenario, I spoke to the class about these expectations. Then I put them into groups, which I had assigned on the board, and they set about working on their skits. (Scenario: A teenager talks to two other people about his or her dream).
We had some great dreams. One boy broke out in a hilarious stand-up routine in front of his parents (he dreamt of being a comedian) while another girl told her uncomprehending parents that she wanted to be an actress. It went like this:
Girl: Mom, Dad, I have something to tell you. I dream of being an actress.
Mom: You mean a doctor?
Girl: No, an actress.
Mom: Don't be ridiculous. You are going to be a doctor. I need $25,000 a year!
Dad: You're both wrong. Daughter, you will not be an actress, and you will not be a doctor. You can marry a man who's a doctor. Don't marry a man who's an actor. Have you done the dishes?"
There was one point where there was talking during the presentation, and we stopped and I pointed out the "Watch without talking" expectation on the board. We started again and there was no talking. After each performance there was a neat two-clap treatment. That's when I say "Two claps one-two!" and everyone claps twice in unison. I reout meekly the way classroom applause can (I remember that mostly from my own days as a student). I wasn't at all sure how they would like the two-clap thing (is it too childish? Too campy?) but all four sections have warmed to it.
After the role plays we had a truly excellent discussion on what comes up around "dreams". There were great comments about the source of parental expectations (traditions, culture, past experiences), stereotypes, and a good discussion about whether goals are more achievable than dreams.
We ended the class with one round of our new spelling game, a competition between the two English A sections, called "Basket of DOOM." It's modelled after a game we played in my fourth grade math class, where the teacher had a felt bag with a duct tape scull and cross bones on the front, filled with laminated pieces of paper with math words on them, like "factor" and "product" and "least common denominator" which she would draw and we would have to define. We loved it. We won stickers an such for a series of correct answers.
The English A version involves a cute basket labelled "DOOM" in which popsicle sticks with spelling words written on them lie in wait. I draw a student's name, then the student gets to try to spell words I draw out of the basket. If she gets three right, then her class gets a gold star on the DOOM Chart. Dana played today, and while she spelled "grateful" correctly, she added an "e" to proving, so her team will have to wait until next week to try for its first star. I think everyone left the class feeling good.
Oh my goodness I forgot to mention the whole reason I started this post. "The Way They Watch" refers to the way students watch a teacher whenever classmates do something unexpected or abnormal. During the role plays some of the students got into their roles and were dramatic or funny. I saw students turn to look at me to gauge my reaction to such abnormalities. I was smiling and laughing with them, and glad that they were seeing that it's ok to be themselves and express themselves in the class - that it's a place that welcomes humour, in the right context. I loved my job today.
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