The Power of Role-playing

The Power of Role-playing

February 10, 2015 

Angela's PLC

This week, we discussed how children often learn best and remember activities through "doing". Having students talk about an idea and then act it out is a great way to increase their memory! As teachers, we realized that role-playing needs to have some scaffolding, especially in whole group activities. Letting children use their imaginations is something we often stifle in the classroom because of the many standards and the subject matter we have to cover in our teaching. However, the book showed how role-playing triggers students' memories and is engaging for our students. We should model what effective role-playing looks like so that our students will know how to engage in the activity. 

Another thing we need to remember is that practice truly makes perfect. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Students in lower elementary tend to forget things easily. If we come up with actions, songs, or visuals, this will have a more lasting effect on their memory. 

We also discussed what we think our students go home and tell their parents about school. Taking time to process and reflect with the students on what they have learned will help the information stick in their minds as well.