Role Play
Before You Start:
Before reviewing the Optimization and Redesign sections for ideas about making changes to your activity, review the Activity Meta-objectives section and make sure the meta objectives of the activity you have chosen (in this case, Roleplay) are well aligned with the learning outcome of your lesson, and that the activity was, in the first place, the best choice for supporting your students in accomplishing your lesson outcome(s).
Activity Description
Role Play is an active learning technique that allows students to take on and act out assigned roles based on the instructions provided by the instructor or their own previous experiences.
Activity Meta-Objectives
What is the activity good at accomplishing and how does it accomplish that?
Below is a list of some of the things you can accomplish with your students using this active learning technique. Before making changes to the technique, check (and add) all that the Role Play activity is contributing to your students’ learning experience and make sure you maintain those through the changes that you are making.
- Discover new strategies in conversation with others and by drawing on their collective past experiences
- Provide a cost-effective opportunity for students to immediately apply their learning to a scenario or rehearse a role before engaging in the role in the real world context (i.e. practice counseling)
- Promote critical thinking by engaging students in real life scenarios to practice newly developed skills
- Others?
Optimizing for Accessibility
- Closely tie role play to the learning objectives of the lesson so the students can see the relevance.
- If possible, let students know in advance that you will be doing a role play activity and share the instructions and the roles before the class.
- Have very clear, oral and written instructions for each of the roles.
- Plan in advance, how you are putting students in groups and how they are assigned to each role.
- When assigning roles, make sure all students are equally challenged.
- If possible, allow students to pick their own roles.
- Dedicate time for reflection and planning prior to acting (so students can plan out how they start and proceed with the role play).
- Dedicate a good amount of time to the role play.
- Integrate post-activity (guided or unguided) reflection time so students can consolidate their learning from observation or acting before engaging in discussion or report back.
- If this is a graded activity, make sure you are very clear about what the students will be assessed for and share the assessment rubric (for each individual role, or the group).
Redesign Process Guide
Step 1: Identify essential components
Identify the components/aspects of the role play activity that are essential for learners to meet the learning outcomes of the lesson.
- How does role play help learners meet the learning outcomes of the lesson?
Step 2: Identify obstacles
- Which parts of these essential components/aspects are an obstacle for this learner?
Step 3: redesign to remove obstacles
- How can we redesign these essential components to remove the obstacle for the learner but still equally support them to meet the LO of the lesson?
An example of applying this process
Using activity meta objectives to redesign for temporary accommodation:
Below is an example of a redesigned Role Play activity while maintaining the activity’s meta objectives. I encourage you to engage in the same process to redesign this activity for other accommodation needs.
This redesign allows students with social anxieties to participate in a role play activity that gives learners the opportunity to apply the strategies they just learned in the classroom to a specific scenario.
Process:
Step 1: Identify essential components
- Which parts of the Role Play activity are essential for learners to meet the learning outcome(s) (LOs) of the lesson?
Response:
- Discover new strategies in conversation with others and by drawing on their collective past experiences
- Promote critical thinking by engaging students in real life scenarios to practice newly developed skills
Step 2: Identify obstacles
- Which parts or aspects of the essential components are an obstacle for this student?
Response: The aspects of role play that require students to think on the fly and speak up and interact with other students are an obstacle for this learner.
Step 3: redesign to remove obstacles
Take necessary steps to redesign these essential components to remove the obstacle for the learner but still support them in meeting the LO of the lesson:
The aim of this redesign should be to provide alternative ways for this student to meeting the learning outcome.
Here is one way to redesign Role Play to accommodate a learner with social anxiety:
- Let your students know in advance that you will be engaging them in a role play activity in the next class to give them an opportunity to apply what they will learn in class.
- Let your student know in advance, the exact duration and expected outcome for the role play activity.
- Let your students know in advance, the total number of students per group.
- Let your students know in advance that there is an option to participate in the role play without having to act.
- If possible, list roles in advance of the class and have students sign up for the role they would like to take on.
- If possible, provide the instructions for the role play activity in advance of the class.
- Design your role play activity with an additional role of an observer/guide, etc.
This individual will be responsible for closely observing the interaction and communication between the other students based on the guided/reflection questions that you are providing, and recording their observation for everyone in writing (this could be done on paper, flipchart, or an online platform). The guiding questions should engage this student in critical thinking and analysis of their observation based on what was taught earlier in class. - After the role play, all students in each group review the observer’s notes and discuss/underline 1-2 important points/discoveries that they would like to share with the entire class.
- A volunteer from each group is invited to share 1-2 important discoveries with the rest of the class. This could be done verbally or you could use an online platform (i.e: padlet) where students post their responses as a group.
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Now It’s Your Turn
Choose and click on one of the Learner Scenarios below, go through the process of redesigning the Think, Pair, Share activity in order to accommodate the learner. The aim is to fully engage and support this learner to meet the LO(s) of your lesson while not removing any support from your other learners.
Post your response in the comment box.
Scenario 1
You have a learner in your workshop/class who is visually impaired.
How would you redesign your activity to accommodate them?
Scenario 2
You have a learner in your workshop/class who is deaf.
How would you redesign your activity to accommodate them?
Scenario 3
You have a learner in your workshop/class with severe social anxiety.
How would you redesign your activity to accommodate them?
Scenario 4
You have a learner in your workshop/classroom who is in a wheel chair.
How would you redesign your activity to accommodate them?
Scenario 5
You have a learner in your workshop/class with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
How would you redesign your activity to accommodate them?
Scenario 6
You have a learner in your workshop/class with auditory processing disorder.
How would you redesign your activity to accommodate them?