Role Playing
When possible I try to use a role playing exercise based on yesterday’s assignment. This motivates the “unprepared students†to be prepared, the “inattentive students†to participate and the “center stage student†to be the evaluator / observer. I find the role playing exercises allow each student to participate, learn and have a good time.
What are some of the role playing exercises or class discussions you have used to keep everyone involved in the class?
I feel 'role playing' is very important in all area of study.. Role playing provides the student and class with visual learing techiniques that can be used in every aspect of life. Snd, the students are attentive and have fun.. resulting in a positive environment..
I enjoy seeing their take on handling these situations and like to see if they can keep their cool especially when dealing with dental patients.
I think that role playing is a very important part of showing the students what is expected of them in the "real world". I am currently the lead dental instructor at a technical school. One way I engage my students is to play the "good technique dental assistant vs. the bad technique dental assistant". By assigning different students in each of these roles they can create there own take on what these roles mean to them. The students love it and learn much more by having interation and fun than by lecturing and being bored.
How I keep students engaged in class is by placing them in groups and having the group come up with a list that addresses the topic of the lecture. Each group or I'd rather say team must share with the rest of the class an item on their list. As they go around the room, none of the groups may repeat a response that has already been mentioned. Also, each person from the team must respond--the same person from each team does not dominate, allowing more timid students to participate.
As far as role playing, during a lecture about how to handle difficult patients, I used a variety of scenarios in which students would have to handle the situation in an impromptu manner. It's fun for the students and educational.
