A New Way to Role Play

In
one
of my curriculum instruction classes today we had to answer a question about how we, as future teachers, will try to solve issues of hate and racism in the class. Even today, it is obvious that hate and racism still exist, both in and out of the classrooms. For some teachers, tackling it is like tackling a horrible fear of heights, but my group may have found a way to ease this fear, even just for a bit.

We had the option of composing a song, a poem, a skit, or role playing. Our question addressed students in the 6th and 7th grades.

My group decided to combine a skit with role playing. But, we tried to think like middle schoolers, and therefore wanted to compose a skit that more students might relate to, and therefore pay more attention to. So....we went with Harry Potter. Believe it or not, JK Rowling addressed issues of racism and hate in the popular wizarding world she created. We took one of the scenes from the third book and movie and added more of a teaching approach to it. Enjoy!

A: "You filthy mudblood! Your kind should not be allowed to attend a wizarding school!"

L: "Mr. Malfoy! Fifty points from Slytherin! I need to see you and Miss Granger in my office immediately."

(A and P have a seat in the chairs at the back of the stage. L stands over them)

L: "Mr. Malfoy, why would you say such a horrible thing? Do you realize that the word 'mudblood' is racist and hateful?"

A: "Yes I do! Hermione is a mudblood!"

L: "She is a human being, just as yourself. How does that make her any different?"

A: "She is nothing like me! She is more like a dog than like me!"

L: "Then you must be calling youself a dog as well, because I don't see a difference between the both of you. Do you even know what 'mudblood' means?"

A: "No, but I know it's what she is!" (pointing at P)

L: "A lot of hate stems from large misunderstandings. Therefore Mr. Malfoy, your punishment will be to educate youself on where Miss Granger is from, and then to write me a report on it. In detention over the rest of this week."

A: "But, that's not fa-"

L:"AND you will write her a respectful apology letter by the end of this week as well. You are dismissed."

Now, imagine what you just read with my peer and I doing all of our dialogue in British accents. Everyone, including my professor, was laughing hysterically by the time we were finished because we did something totally unexpected.

We role played in this way to appeal more to a younger audience, most of whom have read at least one Harry Potter book or seen one of the movies. This could get students engaged. Secondly, rather than focus on one racial stereotype or group, we used the made-up racism by JK Rowling in an effort to talk about the general idea of racism. This too focuses on a younger generation, who may not yet understand the negative effects of racism, and acts as a means to introduce ways for students to oppose it.