“To be, or not to be, that is the question.” Most of us can recall hearing or reading these lines from Shakespeare. If you do not remember this line, when you heard it, or where you were when you first learned it then this is a discussion for you.
Image titled "Opera Actor" via Wix.com
Imagine for a moment that you are sitting in a classroom, and you hear this line said aloud. The person speaking the line is dressed like the character of Prince Hamlet much to the amusement of the whole class. Some may consider this humiliating or over the top, but I would consider it a creative and engaging way to teach Shakespeare. It is most certainly a way for students to remember the lessons presented for years to come.
In short, this form of teaching is done through LARPing. LARP stands for Live Action Role-Play. Below are some ways in which you too can implement LARPing into your lessons to creatively engage your students.
1. Get into it!
As the teacher, you are the leader and the role model for the lesson. If your heart is not into the character, then your students will sense this and be less likely to play along. However, they may still pay attention even if it is to silently mock you. To handle all of this remember:
Stay in character as much as possible but if an emergency arises feel free to drop your disguise and take action.
Have an idea of what content needs to be covered and which key points you want to make. Then make those points casually while sticking to your character.
Don’t let the whispers and chuckles discourage you. Your students may not admit it in the moment, but they will look back on your lessons fondly and have a deeper appreciation for you as an educator.
2. Create an immersive environment.
LARPing depends on props, decorations, costumes, and voice to be immersive. The more immersive the experience the more engaging the lesson will be. So, ensure that you:
Have all necessary props and decorations staged before the start of class. Maintain some backups in case anything is broken or in need of repair.
Make sure that your costume is complete and reflects a character from the story or someone from that era. Be sure to change up your body language to fit the character as well.
Incorporate some sort of accent or inflection in your voice to further portray that you are playing a part. A good choice of vocabulary and diction can go a long way.
3. Get the students involved.
It can be easy to simply lecture to your students, but their involvement is key. So, make sure to involve them by:
Creating a scenario in which they must LARP back at you in conversation.
Give them roles to play within your new learning environment.
Allow them to journal about their experiences by assuming the life of someone from that era or who was present within the text.
Give them quests to complete or riddles to ponder that will count towards participation.
Allow them to group up to complete assignments.
4. Know when to end the lesson.
While it can be fun to LARP all of the time it may not be suitable to do so. At the end of every lesson be sure to reflect on the key takeaways that each group had to ensure that they are learning the necessary information by:
Exit the room as your LARPing character.
Send in the boring old teacher.
Have students discuss their key takeaways in an open discussion involving the whole class.
Ask them to give you honest feedback on the LARPing activity. This can be done anonymously through notecards or Google Forms.
Use comments to shape future lessons.
If all of these steps are implemented, then a creative and engaging classroom experience will be the result. This type of lesson will be one that students will remember for years to come. While the task can seem daunting at first it will become more than worth the effort once you receive the first set of feedback from your students.
Listed below are a couple of links to websites that got me interested in teaching lessons through Larping. I hope that they will be as inspirational to you and your future students as they have been for me.
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