Role Play Reflections

I chose the identity of a humanties professor, and I struggled with the way I presented Dr. Charlotte Hodges. It would have been easy to make her a sterotypical, curmudgeonly professor who despised the way digital literacy had shaped her students and the culture, but I didn't want to make her a one-dimensional character. So I tried to present Dr. Hodges as somewhat stodgy and traditional but also reflective and genuinely interested in what helps students learn. In retrospect, I would probably have had more fun with the character if I had made her more sterotypical, because I had a hard time keeping her point of view consistent --and interesting!

I am personally less stodgy than Dr. Hodges -- or at least I like to think so. . . I don't think Dr. Hodges would be participating in a laptop pilot! Yet I think I share her love of traditional literature. I was impressed with the quality of thinking in all of the responses and postings that I read. It's too soon to say how my opinions on the topic of digital literacy have changed; I think I am resisting closure on that question, until I have thought and read some more. . . .

I can imagine using an online role play with my students when we read the novel Touching Spirit Bear. In this novel, the main character Cole participates in a controversial justice program called circle justice, instead of going to jail for a violent crime he has committed. I can imagine doing a role play centered around the question "Should Cole go to jail or participate in circle justice?" and assigning students roles to play. I could use the role play as a springboard into the editorial assignment that students write. I like the idea of having a culminating writing assignment or in class activity to complete the role play.