Role Play and its Role in the Classroom

This post will be focusing on the role playing as a form of education, but will touch on other issues as well.

Concerning role play as a form of education, I feel it is effective only if the students really take it seriously and attempt to play their points of view. For example, the students in Monday's role play, particularily those who played the parents of the low achieving students and the business owners of Decorah, took it seriously and got into it. Because they got into it, I believe that the role play was more successful. Rather than simply focusing on the hypothetical plan, we discussed whether those who supported the plan (the tax payers, the business owners, and the parents of highly achieving students) or supported what we do as teachers typically recieve more attention than those who disagree with us. Those who disagree could have helpful suggestions that would allow us to help more students to succeed. The problem, as the role play showed, was that disagreements can easily become personal attacks. When this happens, it becomes nearly impossible for the two sides to take advice from each other. This discovery occurred because students were emotionally into the role play. I believe that role playing is more successful when students get emotionally into them. If the students are emotionally engaged, they will try harder to prove their points, and the role play will be more effective.

Another good aspect of role playing is that it does not take an advanced understanding of the subjects it is covering in order to do. This applied to our role play on Monday. We did not spend a great deal of time covering No Child Left Behind, but we were able to role play in a situation that focused on many aspects of NCLB. This would not be the case if we were writing a paper, taking a test, or presenting a slide show on the act. Each of these would require a great deal of preparation. There was some preparation involved with the role play, but it was less extensive. The moderators had the most preparing to do, with each group simply focusing on their opinions and reasons for having those opinions. There was not a feeling of unpreparedness; rather, I would argue that most students would say that the exercise was as helpful as a test, paper, or presentation would have been. Getting emotionally involved motivates students and helps them to learn the material. They may not have focused on facts that they would have likely memorized for a test or written in a paper, but they got a good understanding about the problems that are involved reforming changing our system of education. I feel that role playing is a very effective form of education because it motivates students by getting them emotionally involved.