Is Role Playing Affective?

I really enjoyed this past Monday nights discussion and analysis of the "High Stakes School District" proposal. It was a very interesting and beneficial experience. We as students were to take a side (support or nonsupport) and represent a group of community members. As opposed to turning this kind of real life event into a written project where we describe our argument, we were asked to present our arguments in a real life simulation and argue our side of the proposal for increasing student achievements. We addressed the strengths and weakness's of the proposal and got a taste of what two sides of the argument can be like. This also was a real life application of the ideas we have been learning about in Woolfolk. One concept I think about is philosophy of education and what we value. It is our job as teachers to instill values in our students along with acquisition of knowledge such as facts. The entire issue tied into NCLB and what the law mandates our priorities to be. In puting emphasis on reading comprehension and math and sciences it seriously cuts into the time that can be spend to fulfill a well rounded education. By preparing for benchmark tests, and the time it takes to actually take the test we are losing sight of what, in a lot of teachers opinions should be important in an education. It is not how well we perform on tests, it is our understanding of the world around us and how we use new knowledge to continue to explore and expand our concepts of culture and define our realities and sense of self. What lessons are we instilling in our children by emphasizing testing and achieving governmental standards. First hand knowledge is what I have found sticks with me the most, when we are actively involved in applying our knowledge this is when we remember our learning. I appreciate the opportunity to have an experience with defending my beliefs and having concrete ideas and support for my position as well as respecting the beliefs of others.