This is a piece I originally wrote for the PGCE blog, which you can find here: http://yorkpgce.blogspot.co.uk/
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By
the end of my first week on main placement, rumours were rife in the corridors
that an outbreak of the Black Death had hit the school – and rife in the
staffroom that I had been in some sort of brawl the preceding weekend thanks to
the purple marks on my face and neck that looked suspiciously like bruises. Was
I, in fact, the least professional and most dangerous trainee the school had
ever known?
The
answer, of course, is no. It was my predilection for using costume, drama and
simulation in the classroom that had caused all sorts of gossip in the school.
I’d planned my first lesson with Year 7 about the causes and spread of the
Black Death as a simulation, where they – as teams of medical experts – would
follow learning objectives that were tailored to ‘curing my disease’ and
preventing it from spreading around the school, whilst cunningly teaching them
historical content and the skills of analysing cause and effect. I decided to
dress up, by using red food colouring to create burst buboes, black lipstick to
paint purple swellings on myself, and finally by pouring an entire pint of
water over myself, in the minutes before I entered the classroom, to give
myself a feverish-looking sweat (a note for those of you considering this –
water does not mix terribly well with interactive whiteboards!)
This
is quite an extreme example of ‘simulation’ in the classroom, and to some, the
lines between this approach and ‘drama’ are blurred. The difference, though,
lies in the roles given to pupils to ensure the whole class is participating to create the simulated scenario. In
this instance, I was the victim and they were doctors, nurses and government
health officials, each with a specific role in their table groups throughout
the lesson to focus them on meeting the learning objectives. This is wholly
different to drama, where often only a small proportion of the class (or just
the teacher!) is in role. Additionally, in drama, participants are required to
immerse themselves into a role, which reduces opportunities for meta-cognition
and the subsequent focus on learning objectives. By using a simulation, both
the function of the role, and the outcomes created in that role, are apparent
to the pupil. For instance, as a doctor in this scenario, the pupil would know
that the ‘function’ of their role was to achieve the learning objective of
‘identifying the symptoms of the Black Death’, and they would do this through
accessing content relating to these symptoms. Other roles would match other
learning objectives and the group could then feedback effectively to ensure
everyone in the table group had met all of the objectives.
So why use simulation in
the classroom?
Simulation
has a wide range of benefits for teachers and pupils alike. The immersion in a
fictional scenario inspires and motivates pupils – simply put, it’s exciting
and probably different to any other lesson they will have that day! It’s
memorable and engaging and thus can go a long way to strengthening your
reputation as a teacher and impression on a class, helping to provide a
positive classroom environment and thus promote good behaviour. Furthermore,
this reputation for the kind of lessons you don’t want to miss tends to spread
around the school (I always find it helps if you stand in the corridor to
welcome pupils whilst dressed in some kind of outrageous costume)! Another
benefit simulation can have for you and your pupils is its structured nature,
assigning pupils specific roles that match learning objectives. This can help
you, and them, to measure their progress through assessment – in such a subtle
way they will not notice they are doing it (for instance, an ‘emergency
government meeting’ [in teacher language = verbal feedback] to discuss the
causes and spread of the plague throughout Europe!) It suits a huge range of
learning styles, as you can incorporate written, visual and kinaesthetic tasks
into the simulation, as well as providing a comprehensive and well-structured
plan for you as the teacher, where every pupil is participating. To meet the
needs of all pupils, differentiation ‘by role’ is easy to achieve, and I often
allow pupils to choose their own roles – this allows them to reflect on their
strengths as a learner and take ownership of their learning. It can also help
you to strengthen your relationships with other members of staff – through
Health and Safety negotiations, but also the inclusion of Teaching Assistants
in the simulation (by providing them with a plan in advance and an appropriate
costume). Lastly, I felt the benefits reaching more widely than just the pupils
and staff of the school at a Year 7 Parents’ Evening where I was greeted by one
pupil’s parent with the slightly terrifying “I’ve heard about you…” – luckily,
they’d heard only good things about how their 11-year-old son had become a
doctor in my lessons with him, and wanted to thank me for engaging him in
history!
So how could I use this in
my classroom?: top tips and suggestions!
Tips
for using simulation in the classroom
· Choose your scenario
carefully – obviously avoid things that will be offensive such as a Nazi
simulation.
· Do not over-use this as a
classroom tool – firstly, they take absolute ages to plan and resource, and
secondly, the ‘novelty’ effect that makes these lessons so engaging will be
lost if this is repeated every time you teach.
· Do not break role for the
whole lesson – once you’ve swept them up in the pretence it is easy to carry
their attention, but when broken it’ll be hard to reconstruct.
· To achieve this, you will
have to plan for every instruction you give, or resource you give out, to be
‘themed’ along with the scenario. For instance, in my ‘Thomas Becket’ scheme of
work, I would only address the class as ‘Detective [Surname]’ and all resources
were themed to look like crime scene reports. We also placed sources into
freezer bags and labelled them ‘exhibit 1/2/3 etc’ to mimic the real-life
procedure that would take place – I strongly advise you spare no detail. The
more convincing the scenario, the more engaging it will be.
· It is helpful to arrange
the classroom in table groups of 4, mixing pupils with different skill-sets
(creative, good at presenting, good at researching etc). This enables all
pupils to have a fulfilling and engaging role.
· You will probably have to
invest a lot more time in planning and creating resources for this sort of
lesson, especially if costumes are involved – I remember sitting in the
staffroom frantically cutting up bedsheets to create my Pope costume, as I had
underestimated the amount of time this would take. Leave yourself ample time!
· Check with Health &
Safety before you plan! – after planning to squeeze 30 Year 9s into a tiny
kitchen in order to create an air raid shelter, I was told the night before the
lesson that it would be too dangerous and breach Health & Safety policy.
Cue frantic re-planning involving borrowing an enormous amount of blackout
curtains from the Drama department and a very hectic period before the lesson
attempting to set up an air raid shelter in the Learning Support zone!
· Overall - careful
planning is an absolute necessity. You, as the teacher, must have a
clear idea of exactly what each ‘role’ will be achieving in terms of the
learning objectives. Additionally, strict timing is necessary to ensure that
progress is made and assessed.
When
used effectively, simulation in the classroom can be an excellent tool for
promoting pupil (and teacher!) engagement and enjoyment of lessons – ensuring
that they make progress and that your relationship and classroom climate is
positively strengthened. I’ll leave you with a list of suggested simulations,
some of which I have tried to great effect and some of which I am aiming to use
later in my career!
Suggested
scenarios
Scenario
|
Teacher role
|
Pupil roles
|
Black Death
|
Victim
|
Doctor/nurse/government
official/medical researcher
|
Medieval church
|
Pope
|
Cardinal/archbishop/bishop/priest
|
WW2 = Blitz
|
Air raid
warden
|
Families
(father/mother/children)
|
Henry VIII & the
Reformation (this can be adapted to the court of any monarch studied!)
|
Henry VIII
|
Wolsey (Chancellor), More
(Chancellor), Anne Boleyn, William Tyndale
|
French Revolution (fall
of monarchy)
|
Louis XVI
|
Representatives of the
Paris clubs (Jacobins, Cordeliers, Girondins, Hebertistes)
|
Cold War (Korean War, but
could apply to any military event)
|
Commander-in-Chief
at the Pentagon
|
General, Major, Colonel,
Private
|
Feudal system
|
King
|
Lord/knight/peasant/priest
|
Treaty of Versailles
|
Secretary of
the League of Nations
|
USA/France/Britain/Germany
|
… But the possibilities are
endless!
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