Tried It Tuesday {Role Play, New Fan Freebie!}

I go back to work today after a week off for spring break. We also had a wonderful extra day off yesterday. The weather here was beautiful and I'm afraid mention that it may SNOW on Wednesday. Maybe if I write it, it won't actually happen?
Back to a normal routine and counting down to the end of the school year...
It's Time for Tried It Tuesday! 

What have you tried at school or home?

My Tried It:
Role Plays
I recently wrote about using Revolutionary War figures for role plays here. 

We used these Primary Sources of Famous People in American History found here at Rosen Publishing or here at Amazon. I have a collection on loan and had eleven different choices of people from the American Revolution. I have 15 or 16 students per section, so a few students in each class had to choose the same personality.

You can also read about how I used this role play in my classroom last year here.

I had students complete this Revolutionary War Personality questionnaire to use when their groups were assigned and they began planning their role plays. 

You can access this worksheet as a new Facebook Fan Freebie!

 The groups were made from four Revolutionary War Personalities and students were responsible for writing a script including a cast of characters, some stage directions, and setting descriptions for each scene. Here are some images of students performing.

I can't say enough about how many higher level thinking skills really had to be applied with this activity. Students were instructed to include meaningful, educational dialogue based on their character's role in the American Revolution. The roles had to be connected in some way and this was a challenge. They also couldn't have more than 1/5 of their role play be "war scenes". They love those! Props could be used from the classroom and many groups created their own props using materials in the room. 

The groups had one 80 minute class to write their dialogue and begin rehearsing and another 30 minutes of the next day to practice. They really did an awesome job!

Role plays can be used for any topic and used in any subject! 

The students always remember this activity!

Before you go, check out my friend Bex at Reading and Writing Redhead's Milestone Giveaway!

An InLinkz Link-up