Role Playing is a valuable tool for all teachers to utilize in their classrooms, especially when faced with students who have issues following the rules. Students with a behavioral disability and those who do not respond to a behavior plan can also benefit dramatically from the use of role playing.
Steps to teach proper behavior through the use of role playing:
- Choose a time when the student is calm. Role playing will not work if the student is worked up and behaving poorly.
- Set the stage:
Create (either with the class or just by telling the student a story) a scenario that the child is either likely to experience or one that the child has had trouble with in the past. For example: someone takes the child’s turn on the recess field, someone bumps the child in the hall, or someone laughs at the child in front of the class. Remember that the idea is to teach the appropriate behavior in a given situation, so role playing cannot be “finished” in one session; multiple scenarios must be practiced for best impact on the child.
- Ask the child how the situation makes him feel. It is important for children to learn to recognize their emotional reaction to situations and to be able to verbalize these emotions.
- Ask the child for several different responses to the situation.
Likely, the child will initially give either the Sunday school answer “go tell the teacher” or will respond with the poor behavior he has used in the past. Prompt him to think of other options, and if the child is a visual learner, it might be best to write the different responses down. If doing this as a whole class activity, the entire class can provide options for how to respond to the situation.
- Ask the student to identify the best response of all those suggested. Sometimes more than one response is appropriate; when this is the case, ensure the student knows which responses are appropriate and which are not appropriate. Typically a child, even as young as preschool, has been taught some basic ideas of right and wrong and will be able to identify the correct response.
- If acting out the scenario, have the student try several of the appropriate responses for practice.
These steps will enable you to take a specific behavior that need to be taught, and teach a child how to act appropriately.
