The role playing experience was interesting. We had many voices "represented" from W.E.B. Dubois to G. Stanley Hall to local schoolteachers and administrators to parents, etc. It was a delicate, yet insightful conversation. There is a different level of learning that happens, I think, when you have to take on the "voice" of someone else. It is hard enough to figure out one's own voice sometimes, let alone get the nuances of someone else's. Of course it is impossible to totally get the nuances of someone else's voice, especially when you are only relying on a fabricated biography or a few pieces of writing. And sometimes (actually, often), people change their own minds over the course of their lives and experiences. For example, Dubois initially pontificated on the value of uplifting the "Talented Tenth" to lead African Americans and later, after seeing how this initial concept was changed and expanded upon, changed his stance. He then asserted that the masses (more than just the "talented tenth" of the population) could join to create powerful change. A stance that appeals to me much more.
It was brought up that no one in the class found it comfortable to play the role of racist characters from the past. One colleague stated that he didn't want to give any more voice to his character than he had to. Therefore he didn't speak up as much as he normally would have during a class discussion. This lead to a conversation about speaking, silencing, being silenced and choosing to be silent - there is power and agency, or can be, in each. Silence is as much a part of the conversation as speaking.
5th grade application: I want to be more cognizant of encouraging all students in my 5th grade class to participate in discussions, especially philosophical ones, but not forcing them. I want to build a community where we can be kind of "meta" and think about our thinking and the power in silence. Haven't flushed this out exactly.
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