Today I attended a webinar on Edmodo. The last presenter shared how she got her entire class to write a new version of the Hunger Games. Requirements included holding a reaping, requiring tributes to blog as if they were in the arena and in class they had to be in persona the whole time. From everything she showed us, the students were completely immersed in the experience. It was a collaborative creative writing effort and it seemed like the students really stepped up. I can only imagine the time commitment to come up with all the rules and aspects of the game, as well as keeping track of students.
Apparently there are a lot of teachers who use role play games as part of their teaching. I think it could be done on a smaller scale in a history class for a large unit like WWII, where students assume various roles and must blog/write about their lives during the war. Maybe I will try it out for one class this year.
