Life through My Eyes : Role play with my students

Role play is another fun activity to do with your students. This week, in my Foundations of Education class, we were discussing the topic of Educational Reforms and School Improvement. The discussion started from a big picture f educational reformation where we discussed the issue globally. We mainly looked at the educational reforms that have happened in the US and also in Korea.

Then we came back to the educational reforms in Malaysia and the issue of school improvement. I asked my students to share with me some issues that they have experienced during their schooling time and to consider how the issue could be resolved. Instead of asking them to a usual presentation, we changed the style of presentation by doing a short sketch or role play!

The students were given around 20 minutes to work in a small group. They discussed the issue that they wanted to present and then discussed how they could act it out. Not only the issue, but the way to resolve the issue, had to be a part of their sketch as well. Do you think role play can help students with the ability to exercise their critical thinking? I do. This is because when they were in the particular character thet they acted out, they will try to understand the situation and also felt what the character feels and experienced what they character experience. They will try to relate those. It will encourage them to think differently. I believe that this is what the activity can lead the students to. aha...

Some of the issues raised in the students' role play were teachers' professionalism, bullying and bureaucracy. They were having fun doing it. It was fun for me to see their role play as well. I believe that they learned the skills and experience needed for this topic. Something for them to experience and take back from the learning experience. Learning, I believe, takes place in different ways for different people and I hope that this activity will help my students now and in their future.