Role Playing

Tensions ran slightly high this past Monday night class. Most of the different groups being represented in our town hall meeting were feeling some kind of increased emotions during the hour. For many of those groups the emotion(s) they were displaying was passion. I talked about passion in a previous blog from a teacher's perspective, however its more directed toward the students this week.

That hour was a classic example of how much of an impact emotion being displayed by students can have on their education. I do not believe one single student can say they walked out from that hour of class having not gotten anything from it. The town hall meeting setting is one where students almost feel they need to be passionate about the group/ideas that they are representing. This is not to say that a lecture on the No Child Left Behind legislation would have showed us more logistics about the policy. However, I firmly believe that we now understand the effects of the legislation. Which is just if not more important.

This method of learning shows that it is a legitmate process of teaching. Is it the best way to teach a concept to students? I think a better question is, "Is there only one way to teach a concept?" Obviously the answer is no. Therefore, a teacher must ask themselves to make goals for what they want their students to get out of each concept they teach. If you want them to remember logistics a lecture style is probably the best way to hold them accountable for the material. However, I believe remember a concept and understanding a concept are two different ideas. Both important. Yet both very different.