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Say you were assigned to read something for a class, would you be more motivated to write a report showing that you understood the reading if you were able to rp with someone reflecting what you had read? (i.e. say you read the book Moby d**k, you prove your comprehension of the novel by playing out scenarios in the book.) Personally, how effective do you feel this would be?

It astounds me how many people have problems understanding stories and their intricacies. The characters are too much to understand.

And it’s not that they can’t relate to them, it’s that they don’t know how to relate to them.

Assignments that incorporate role playing (like writing something from a character’s perspective) not only forces the child to think, but also to feel and act and be. They have to be the character to understand, and be able to do the project.

And that’s how I role play. I AM my characters.

I would request that my teachers would let me write assignments like these, because they helped me focus and they made the assignment overall enjoyable. It’s not a boring essay, or an explanatory paper.

You are painting a portrait of this character, this scenario, this book, this whatever it is you are writing, and you are bringing it a second life. You are putting thought and will into it, it’s not a drab assignment, it’s an assignment with meaning.

And it’s these kinds of assignments that bring kids into school.