NCTE, 2009: High School Students Uses of Online-Role Play to Debate and Address Issues Portrayed in
Literature
Richard Beach, University of Minnesota, rbeach@umn.edu
Student: “It’s fun to create a character instead of writing a story, it’s your character being written into a story.”
Related writings:
Beach, R., Anson, C., Teaching Writing Using Blogs, Wikis, and Other Digital Tools, Christopher Gordon
Publishers: resource site on digital writing: http://digitalwriting.pbwiki.com
Beach, R., & Doerr-Stevens, C. (2009). Learning argument practices through online role-play: toward a rhetoric of
significance and transformation. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 52(6), 460–468. http://tinyurl.com/d8voac
Steps involved in creating an online role-play with a literary text:
1. Select an issue or topic portrayed in a text with conflicting, alternative perspectives that students could subscribe
to (versus an issue or topic about which students have unanimous opinions—to avoid a one-sided debate.) Students
should be relatively familiar with this issue or topic--These issues or topics could be tied to competing perspectives
portrayed in a novel or associated with an issue facing the students’ school or community.
2. Formulate a primary argument, thesis, or position statement that would ultimately be decided by a group of
students—a school board, city council, jury, legislators, group of voters, students themselves, etc. For example, you
could hold a censorship school board hearing related to a parent’s complaint about the book students are reading and
the school board would have to decide on whether to censor the book .
3. Share background information on a wiki related to the issue or topic; have students contribute their own
additional information to the wiki from the text both about the issue and the text.
4. Select roles related to these different perspectives on the primary argument the issue or topic—pro or con, as well
as an avatar or pseudonym for their role for use on a blog or Ning/Moodle. These roles should be equally divided
related to pro/con positions.
5. Conduct research related to their position on the issue or topic. Students should be asked to provide evidence
from their research on an issue as well as quotes from the text to support for their positions that they can link to in
their posts.
6. Post arguments on a classroom blog or Ning/Moodle asynchronous, threaded on-line forum. A Ning or Moodle
forum platform is preferable because students can post arguments and counter-arguments in a threaded format. This
exchange could occur during one class or over an extended time period. Students attempt to convince others to
subscribe to their positions to build coalitions and alliances; formulate counter-arguments to competing positions
they receive, and appeal to members of the group making a final decision to vote in a certain manner.
6. Create “argument diagrams” using digital maps such as Inspiration or bubbl.us where they map the different
roles located according to specific arguments (pro vs. con) on the map as a rhetorical landscape. They could also
rate roles according to perceive power and/or rhetorical effectiveness. (see Marttunen, M., & Laurinen, L. (2007).
Collaborative learning through chat discussions and argument diagrams in secondary school. Journal of Research
on Technology in Education, 40(1), 109–126.)
7. After the role-play concludes, step out of their roles and reflect on:
- the arguments they employed and the effectiveness of those arguments
- the language, information, and images they employed in creating their roles.
- their perceptions of the roles with the most versus least power and reasons for differences in power.
- their feelings about their particular role the overall role-play related to their sense of agency.
- how their personal beliefs influenced the beliefs they espoused in their role.
- any changes in their positions or beliefs during the role-play
8. Option: Students could then use the role-play material as prewriting to write their own persuasive essays based
on their own and others’ arguments formulated during the role-play, including their reflections on the validity and
persuasiveness of certain arguments.
Other online sites related to teaching persuasive writing:
Ink, developed at Michigan State University (http://writing.msu.edu/ink/research.htm) to teach composition,
including persuasive writing involved in addressing issues; described in Sheridan, D. M., & Hart-Davidson, W.
(2098). Just for fun: Writing and literacy learning as forms of play. Computer & Composition, 25(3), 258-269
The Persuasive Games site (www.persuasivegames.com), Democracy, (positech.co.uk/democracy/faq.html), A
Force More Powerful (www.afmpgame.com), Peacemaker (www.peacemakergame.com) involves use of
persuasive writing in games to address conflicts or political issues.
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LittleBigPlanet (www.littlebigplanet.com), Fallout 3 (http://fallout.bethsoft.com/index.html), and Global Warming
Interactive, (www.globalwarminginteractive.com/game.htm) deal with environmental issues.
The Our Courts project that involve students in arguing legal positions in virtual courts http://tinyurl.com/5pxvkw
Debatepedia (http://wiki.idebate.org), a wikipedia organized around pro–con arguments.
Debategraph (http://debatemapper.com) uses wikis used to display arguments on various current issues.
Opposing Views (www.opposingviews.com) provides experts’ opinions on topics such as the Electoral College,
legalizing marijuana, prayer in schools, legalize gambling, the death penalty, etc.
What Percent: Users vote on their opinions on current issues or questions http://www.whatpercent.com/
Own Your C: Users votes on issue statements http://www.ownyourc.com
The New York Times: Room for Debate: Experts debate certain issues
http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/welcome-to-room-for-debate/
Literary Worlds virtual worlds site for commonly-taught literary texts (Midsummer Nights Dream, Brave New
World, Things Fall Apart, Of Mice and Men, The Great Gatsby, and 1984): http://www.literaryworlds.org
described in Robert Rozema and Allen Webb’s book, Literature and the Web: Reading and Responding with
New Technologies, Heinemann.
The New Worlds Project: Sci-Fi Creative Writing and Role-Play
http://www.rpgnewworlds.net/news.php
Online role-plays conducted in Elizabeth Boeser’s College Writing class, Jefferson High
School, Bloomington, MN
Text: Montana 1948 (Larry Watson): novel portraying racism towards Native Americans in a
small, Montana town in the late 1940s.
University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux mascot debate
http://roleplaymascots.blogspot.com/
http://mascotroleplay.blogspot.com/
Course Website: http://missboeser.googlepages.com/montana1948
Wiki: students shared information about the novel:
http://jhscollegewritingmontana.pbworks.com
The students read background material about the legalities of the issue having to do with
the fact that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) had issued a ruling barring
UND from using this mascot, a ruling that UND was challenging in court. A settlement was
reached whereby within the next three years, UND had to seek approval from two of the major
Sioux North Dakota tribes to use the mascot, or else it would not longer be used.
Underlying this legal dispute over the use of the “Fighting Sioux” mascot is a larger issue
of the use of derogatory mascot name that reifies negative media stereotypes of Native
Americans. Countering this critique is the position that the use of the mascot name does not in
itself constitute a derogatory statement about Native Americans.
To foster a sense of investment in the mascot issue that did not directly impact her
students, she assigned roles for the online role-play based on the characters in the novel who as
well as other related roles associated with the debate: the UND President, members of the Sioux
tribe, students on the hockey team, the owner of the Washington Redskins, etc. Rather than
treating a blog as simply an isolated, electronic notebook for recording their descriptions of
schools to subject to her for a grade, students in Elizabeth’s class were actively engaged in a
role-play space that involved reading and commenting on each other’s positions.
Blog Posts
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On the blog, (roleplaymascots.blog; for a Spring, 2008 version: mascotroleplay.blogspot.com) students
created bios to describe their roles based on biographical research about their roles or by drawing on their reading of
Montana 1948.
The Native American novelist, Louise Erdrich:
recently turned down an honorary degree from UND because of the mascot issue. I turned it down because
I believe that having their mascot a Sioux Indian is very disrespectful to the tribes. I think that changes
need to be made in order to respect the tribes.
The character, Gloria Hayden, Frank Hayden’s wife in the novel:
I agree with getting rid of the logo. I find it offensive to the Native American culture. I think the Sioux tribe
should be celebrated and not be used as a mascot for a team called the Fighting Sioux. If people see this as
a way to honor them, there are better ways. Native Americans have been through many hardships in their
life and this should not be another burden for them to carry. There are different mascots the team can have.
I am a firm believer in banning the mascot of the fighting Sioux.
The role of a white female student at UND:
I love going to the hockey games and hanging out with friends. I myself play on the North Dakota
volleyball team. The teachers and academics are amazing here in North Dakota. The school is beautifully
portrayed in the great city of Grand Forks. The students are friendly and welcoming. I am very proud of our
school and I believe that our mascot should stay. It is a huge part of our state’s history and I think it proudly
represents the Sioux people in our community. GO FIGHTING SIOUX!
Winona Yepa, a Native American woman:
As a Native American woman, I am also very offended by the name "redskins". Perhaps your name should
be changed to Washington ”Whitetrash" then perhaps you could see why I feel the way I do about the
name. We are native American's, not redskins. I find it to be a very offensive name. At least NDSU has
enough respect for Native Americans to address us properly as "Sioux" the fighting part is debatable but
they don't refer to us as "redskins". We have names.
Student Reflections on the Online Role-Play
- I feel like the role play was a really good idea and we got to talk about an interesting issue that is real and that is
going on right now…I liked seeing the sides of all different people and what they thought about the issue…I thought
that it was a lot easier then what it might have been if we did it in person. We could share our opinions without
maybe getting into a heated discussion that might have ended badly. I also liked that we had a bio that people read
so they knew where we came from and why we thought the things we did.
- I’m really glad that we did it on a blog because it gives people a chance to really voice their opinions. Especially
people who don’t say much in class. They can basically say whatever they want on their blog, because its not
actually them talking. It’s their character. I would really like it if we could do it again for another book.
Text: The Perks of Being a Wallflower and issues of censorship
Censorship role-play: http://schooledthewriteway.blogspot.com/
http://wallfloweronline.blogspot.com/
http://charactershighschool.pbworks.com/
The PTSA (Parent Teacher Student Association) of Maui High School is looking for feedback on the following book
titles available to students through the school library and/or taught by the English department. Several parents and
guardians have contacted school administrators about the questionable content and educational merit of these and
other books. We strongly encourage you to discuss the content of these books with your peers and those connected
with the school to evaluate the reasons we should keep them in (or remove them from) the school library and the
curriculum. Without your feedback, we will not be able to effectively evaluate the arguments for and against
keeping these books in our school. The list below includes, but does not represent all, the titles being challenged by
our community, whose tax money is used to buy the books. You should communicate with at least five people (not
including me) in this debate until January 16th, at which time, you will send me your final decision regarding how
appropriate you feel these books are for high school students. Thank you. Sincerely, Marlys Anderson PTSA
Secretary
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain for use of racist language.
Beloved by Toni Morrison due to sexual content including bestiality and both offensive and racist language
Black Boy by Richard Wright for vulgar language among other word choices and violent descriptions.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou for violence and sex.
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In Cold Blood by Truman Capote for sex, violence, and profanity
The Color Purple by Alice Walker for questionable lessons on morality, racism and sexuality.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini for extreme violence and objectionable sexual content.
Montana 1948 by Larry Watson for profanity and descriptions of nudity and sex crimes.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey due to glorifying pornography and criminal activity.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, for encouraging licentiousness, homosexuality, drug abuse
and offensive language.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee for use of racial epithets.
PTSA: so after commenting and talking to a few people, my opinion changed very quickly. At first I was not real
sure about what I thought of this banning of certain books in our schools English Department. However, after I
talked to my peers like Sharpay, it made me realize how exposed people our age are to those types of things like
drugs, sex, alcohol, etc. Especially in the books like Perks Of Being A Wallflower. In this book the main character is
faced with many things, as there are a lot of students here going through similar situations. Even some adults, such
as janiotors I spoke to feel that these books are good for our curriculum.
Thanks so much and I hope you take my opinion to thought when making your final decision!!
Dear Ms. Anderson,
I don't think that these books should be banned. I have talked to several other students and we all agree. While there
are some mature scenes and language, I don't feel we should be sheltered from things that actually happen in the real
world. In the Kite Runner, they fled from the Taliban, something that actually happened. In Montana 1948, there
was sexual abuse, something that actually happens. In the Perks of Being a Wallflower, there is drug abuse and
problems with friends, and that happens also in the real world. We are becoming well rounded people by learning
about things that are happening outside of our lives, even though these books may be fiction.
Text: Little Brother (Doctorow, 2008) Free download: http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/ Portrays
attempts by a young computer hacker, Charlie, to thwart attempts by the government to monitor citizens lives. Roleplay Issue: Student access to blocked sites and privacy rights related to information posted on Facebook. Sites at
Jefferson High School were being blocked. And, based on an incident at another local high school, students were
suspended based on information about their drinking posted on Facebook.
Debate questions:
Who should have total access to view and use online content in this school? Why this person and in what situations?
- Should administrators be able to view and use online content to manage student affairs?
- What online content should students be able to access in school? Should some sites be blocked? If so why? For
example should students have access to games, YouTube, R-rated websites, or sites considered to be offensive, etc.?
- Are the current Internet school policies, blocking criteria, and definitions of “school” clear to you? For example, is
your online use at home subject to scrutiny by school personnel? If not, what would you recommend the school
policies be related to these issues?
Arguments: Pro versus con blocking of sites and administrative access to Facebook
- schooling should be designed to foster critical thinking/access to information versus controlling/locking down
students “education discourse”
- students need to learn how to live in a networked global economy “globalism discourse’
- students need to learn how to be responsible for their own decisions/behavior “development discourse”
“permissive parent” cultural model (Lakoff)
- students have a legal right to access information “legal discourse”
Con student access
- students will access problematic/porn sites that will adversely influence them “moral discourse”
- students are not mature enough to select appropriate sites “developmental” discourse
Anti administrator access to Facebook
- government violation of privacy is a threat to individual rights/freedom (linked to the Little Brother book)
“political/legal discourse”
- administrators have no right to access what is personal/private information “legal” discourse
Pro administrator access to Facebook
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- administrators must legally address violations of the athletics code “legal discourse”
- administrators need to protect their students and create a safe school context “strict father” cultural model (Lakoff)
- administrators are only trying to support students, not go after them “administrative” discourse
Student perceptions of tensions/contradictions in the system
- Little Brother spurred my interest in the ways the government and schools can track our every move. I scrounged
the Internet looking for explanations of devices mentioned in Little Brother. My own experiences of being recorded
when logging on to a computer at school also heightened my interest in the hidden techniques of the technological
workings of the school.
- After reading Little Brother I thought about the school depicted in the novel and how the administration was
basically spying on the students. I felt like this was actually happening to us too because of how the administration
at Jefferson tracks every website visited at school.
Affective motives for need to change the system
- I was really surprised at how many rules I did not know about when I was reading the policy handbook online. If I
would have known some of these things before doing my blogs and reading Little Brother, it would have completely
changed some of my ideas about network surveillance.
Value of making change in the school’s Internet policies
- Another change that came partially from this, and partially from a few teachers advocating for change is that our
school now has access to YouTube. This is a pretty groundbreaking thing for Jefferson, and it's exciting.
Acquiring agency through achieving change
- I don't think my views on Internet policy changed so much as the fact that I'm realizing that a few students working
together to create change on a subject they feel passionate about can actually make a difference, whether it be in the
school or community.
- I know that our class's involvement in these issues made an impact on the school. I feel good that I had something
to do with them thinking more about how the students feel. When the administration agreed with us that the safety
block was at a ridiculous level, I knew they would spend time on fixing it..
Students’ Uses of Reader-response Strategies in the Role-plays
In responding to these and other posts, students employed a number of different reader-response strategies.
Reading the rhetorical landscape and social hierarchies. To participate in the role-play, students need to be able to
determine the different roles’ stances on the issue, agendas, and status, requiring them to “read” or interpret the
virtual space as a rhetorical landscape to determine their own strategies and select certain audiences for comments.
Recognizing shifts in their own and others’ positions. Students were recognizing shifts in their own and others’
positions and status as the role-play unfolded over the two-week period. This required that students track shifts in
the “uptake” to their own posts as a reflection of how others perceived their own positions and status. From
participating in the role-play, Laurel noted that she changed her own positions: “it
did change me more than I thought it would…it’s more open to what other people are doing.”
Perspective-taking to establish identification with other roles. Students learned to interpret other posts’ for the
rhetorical purpose of gaining their audiences’ identification through (Burke, 1969). To do so, they needed to
engage in perspective-taking to identify and reference traits, expertise, or knowledge they share with certain
audiences. For example, the school newspaper reporter responds to a parent who supports blocking certain sites:
I can definitely understand how you would think your daughter's Facebook and non- school related
websites are none of teachers and administrators business. I would have to agree with this, not as a parent
but as someone understanding the situation you speak of.
Critically interpreting stances and discourses. Students had to critically respond to roles’ stances and discourses
constituting those stances. For example, some of the student roles responded critically to stances constituted by
discourses of protection/control voiced by administrators and some parents, leading them to adopt a counterdiscourse of resistance and autonomy that challenges this discourse of protection/control.
Constructing intertextual links. In formulating their positions, students also drew on links to a range of different
texts, for example, court cases and research reports on students’ Internet uses. For example, one students notes in an
interview:
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after reading Little Brother, after looking through that stuff and thinking about it more, giving myself time
to process I was able to like realistically see things from their perspective, and think more about what they
were going to do like Charlie’s character would have done.
Interpreting posts to write persuasive essays. After the completing of the role-play, students stepped out of
their roles and wrote essays from their own point of point, essays in which they identified the problem, reasons for
the problem, and possible solutions to the problem. This required that they review and interpret those posts as
material and evidence to support their own positions. Students noted that having to interpret these competing
positions helped them formulate and refute different arguments. The students were therefore learning to interpret
the competing perspectives in the posts as material for writing their essays. Grappling with these competing
perspectives helped them recognize the complexity of the issues, as well as the need to address the issues by
proposing possible solutions.
Self-reflections on the use of arguments in the role-plays
1. Describe your role’s beliefs or stance on the issue(s).
2. What kind of language or arguments did you use to convey these beliefs or stances?
3. What evidence or reasons did you use to support your positions? Do you think that this evidence or reasons were
effective in convincing others to adopt your positions?
4. Have I established the significance of a problem or issue to my audience based on reasons and supporting
evidence?
5. Will my audience perceive me as someone who is serious about addressing this problem or issue?
6. When you received a reply that challenged or disagreed with your position, how did you typically respond to
these challenges or disagreements?
7. Do my solutions adequately address the problems; Will my audiences perceive my proposed solutions as viable
solutions?
8. Do you think that your arguments had any influence on your audiences’ beliefs on this issue? If so, in what
ways?
Rubric for Self-Assessing/Evaluating Ning Posts You must find at least one example of your writing from the Ning
for each of the five grading criteria, copy and paste it into the boxes above on the Self-Evaluation.
1. Creation of a
role Purposeful
use of creative
language
(character voice,
descriptive
language)
2. Statement of
position
3. Support for
position
Purposeful use of
links and images
within the
context of the
argument to
develop role
and/or argument
4
Creates and
portrays a highly
believable,
realistic, and
relevant role
through effective
use of detailed
descriptive
language, images,
and links
Makes a clear,
forceful statement
of position
reflecting strong
understanding of
topic
Provides extensive,
elaborated
evidence or reasons
for position based
on clearly-defined
description of the
context
3
Creates and portrays a
somewhat believable,
realistic, and relevant
role through use of
descriptive language,
images, and links
2
Creates a role with
only limited
believability, reality,
and relevancy
through limited use
of descriptive
language, images,
and links
1
Creates and portrays
a role that is not
believable, realistic,
or relevant with
little or no use of
descriptive
language, images,
and links
Makes some statement
of position reflecting
some understanding of
topic
Makes an unclear
statement of position
reflecting limited
understanding of
topic
Makes only a vague
statement of
position
Provides some evidence
or reasons for position
based on a description
of the context
Provides limited
evidence or reasons
for position with little
description of the
context
Provides no
supporting evidence
or reasons provided
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4. Recognition of
counterarguments statement of
counter-position
(particularly in
comments)
5. Seeks
audience
identification use of audience
appeals/builds
alliances with
other roles
Clearly identifies
stated or potential
counter-arguments
in own words or
clearly restates
other role’s
positions in own
words and
formulates a strong
refutation with
extensive
supporting
evidence/reasons
Seeks audience
identification
through specific
references to the
audience/pronoun
use, references to
relationships
with/stances that
would appeal to
audiences, or use
of persona that
would appeal to
audiences in terms
of benefits or
advantages
Identifies stated or
potential counterarguments or restates
other role’s positions
and formulates a
refutation in own words
with some supporting
evidence/reasons
Identifies stated or
potential counterarguments or other
role’s positions by
simply quoting or
restating with a weak
refutation
Identifies stated or
potential counterarguments or other
role’s positions by
simply quoting or
restating with no
refutation
Seeks audience
identification through
limited references to the
audience/pronoun use,
references to
relationships
with/stances that would
have some appeal to
audiences, or use of
persona that would
appeal to audiences
Seeks limited
audience
identification, but
uses primarily “I”
examples that do not
reference the
audience’
perspectives or
potential benefits
Makes no attempt to
seek audience
identification.
Using Digital Mind-Mapping to Analyze Larger Institutional Forces Shaping Events and
Spaces in Neighborhoods in Life and Literature
Students study issues/problems facing their own neighborhood as well as those portrayed in literature, for
example, in House on Mango Street, or in their own “Where I’m From” poems (for videos based on
students’ poems about local neighborhoods from students in the DigMe program, Roosevelt High School,
Minneapolis: http://woodsocialstudies.blogspot.com).
They can use digital mind-mapping http://digitalwriting.pbwiki.com/DigitalMapping
(Inspiration, Bubbl.us, VUE, Cmap, Text2Mind Map, DebateMapper, Comapping, Compendium,
WisdomMap, Freemind, My Mind, Belvedere, Mindomo, Mind 42, Umlet 3.2, VYM (View Your
Mind), Mindmeister) to identify relationships between specific events in their neighborhoods as
shaped by their neighborhood as a space, which, in turn, is shaped by larger institutional forces.
Phase I: Mapping Events/Space/Institutional Relationships
Events. At the top, students map a specific event in their neighborhood or in House on Mango
Street by drawing a circle and include people in event, along with spokes out to other smaller satellite
circles that represent traits, practices, and goals.
Spaces. Then, in the middle, students draw another circle that represents their neighborhood as a
space shaping the event—with satellite circles describing neighborhood strengths feature as well as
issues/problems facing a neighborhood as well as how neighborhood spaces are defined by gender, race,
or class discourses
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Systems/social worlds. Then, at the bottom of the sheet, draw a circle that show how the
neighborhood is shaped by larger institutional systems or social worlds: law enforcement, government
support, schooling, mass transit, employment, health care, available retail/grocery stores, etc.
Events
|
Spaces
|
Systems/social worlds
Phase II: Mapping Identity Negotiation Across Different Social Worlds/Systems
Students can then create maps portraying their own or characters’ allegiances to family, peer
group, school, workplace, and neigborhood/community worlds reflecting conflicted allegiances to
different worlds. These circles may or may not overlap to represent the fact that worlds intersect—that
their neighborhood worlds may overlap with their school or peer group worlds. They can also add spokes
out to practices and traits valued in each of these worlds, as well as add a “you are hear” icon to indicate a
world with which they identify, as well as instances in which there are conflicts or tensions between these
worlds
workplace
family peer group
school neighborhood
Phase III: Using Maps to Connect the Dots: Critiquing Institutional Power Relationships
Students could then create maps identifying connections between how larger institutional forces
shape neighborhoods, connecting the dots in terms of how these institutions support or limit the quality of
life in a neighborhood. For example, in studying food consumption in a urban neighborhood, students
may note the lack of grocery stores with vegetable or fruit products and the easy availability of high-fat
food from fast-food restaurants, food related to higher obesity and diabetes rates that increase health care
costs. Students may also critically examine how food manufacturers and fast-food restaurants employ
advertising to promote this food to low-income/youth audiences.
Connecting the Dots: food availability in
Agri-business/corn lobby  campaign donations  government farm policies  Manufactured
food  lack of urban grocery stores with fresh vegetables/fruit  fast food restaurants/advertising
 High fat food  obesity  increased health-care costs
Documentary: Food, Inc.http://foodincmovie.com/
- CDC: 36% of black Americans, 29% of Hispanics, and 24% of whites are obese.
F as in Fat 2009: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America: Food prices, particularly for more
nutritious foods, are expected to rise, making it more difficult for families to eat healthy foods.
Morgan Spurlock, Super Size Me, Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation