Character Education
Informational
Handbook & Guide
Role Plays
Role playing is designed to help
students see the choices they have in situations and to show them
that they do not have to continue in past patterns. It encourages
creative problem solving and enables students to experiment with
solutions. However, role playing can be threatening to many students.
Others will participate eagerly but sometimes not thoughtfully.
“Facing Lines” and “Group Decisions” are
preliminary activities for role playing. You will stand a better
chance of having more participation and better involvement, if you
first use these or other warm-ups.
FACING LINES
This involves only brief action and
creates less self-consciousness than role-playing because the whole
class is not watching. The activity encourages a variety of solutions
to the same problem and forces people to think and act quickly.
Stress that they are to try to get into the character they are
assigned and play that part. Everyone will understand that this is
acting and not necessarily how someone really feels.
Ask for two rows of partners facing
each other. Use the whole length of your room. Designate one line
“X” and the other “Y.” Do not begin until
everyone is quiet, so they can all hear you. Read the scenario to the
students. Then allow thirty seconds for all students to stand quietly
and think about their roles and get in character. When you say
“Begin,” students start talking with their partners. They
continue until you say “Time,” which should be about two
minutes later. They must then freeze in place.
Scene one: Line X is Robin. Line Y
is Leslie. Leslie asks to use an old school paper of Robin’s
which she intends to hand in as her own work. Although Leslie is a
good friend, Robin is generally against cheating.
Scene Two: Line X is Tracy and Line
Y is Toby. Tracy has just teased Toby because Toby speaks English
with a heavy Chinese accent.
Scene Three: Line X is Lee. Line Y
is Terry. Terry is observing a religious fast and is not eating lunch
during the month of March. Lee is making fun of Terry.
DISCUSSION:
1. How did it feel when you were in
each role? Which made you most uncomfortable? Why? In which scene
were you playing a part with which you could identify?
2. Share your solutions to the
problems in each scene with the class. Were there many different
solutions? What are some similar situations you might encounter with
friends or classmates?
3. What were some things your
partner did that were helpful in coming to solutions? What kinds of
behavior turned you off? What might you or your partner have done
differently?
GROUP DECISIONS
This requires people to think
quickly in stressful situations and with some time pressure. As a
small group they must reach agreement. Conflicts often necessitate
such quick thinking. Several possible solutions usually come up in
different groups; thus, divergent problem solving is encouraged.
Because acting per se is not involved, students who are uncomfortable
“on stage” often participate more.
Divide students into groups of
three or four. Read the first situation to the class. Then allow
thirty seconds of quiet thinking time. Then each group has one or two
minutes to talk together and reach a decision about what it will do.
Students are playing themselves—they are to decide what they
would do if the three of them were actually in the situation. After
you call time, have each group share its decision with the
class.
Situation One: You* are on a school
trip. You get separated from the group because you wandered off for a
while. You know you will be in trouble for not staying with the group
and you are trying to decide what to tell the teacher.
Situation Two: You are in the
classroom at recess. The principal comes in with a new girl for the
class. Serena uses crutches and has metal braces on her legs. She
also wears a patch on one eye.
Situation Three: Your class has
been planning a trip to a local fair. All of you would be able to
bring a few dollars each. It is the day before the fair and you
realize that several kids in your class won’t have any money to
bring along.
DISCUSSION:
1. How did you feel in each
situation? Which ones were easy? Which ones were hard?
2. In which decisions could your
group reach consensus? In which could they not? In what types of
real-life decisions do you have to reach decisions
quickly?
3. What kinds of things did someone
in your group do or say that helped your group?
4. What are some values which are
important to you in making decisions in situations such as
these?(honesty? kindness? sympathy? friendliness? thoughtfulness?
etc.)
*In all of these situations
“you” means the three or four students in the group.
Contributed by NCCJ (Greensboro)
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