D&D Classroom: It Has Begun!
Posted 4th October 2008 at 08:55 PM by Gears
A quick update to let everyone know that my D&D classroom has launched and I've now completed two weeks of my lean, mean, gaming/educating hybrid machine!
Well okay, the first weeks have been largely classroom teaching and discussion on the game settings. Students have chosen and personalized their characters. Reading assignments have been assigned. Presentation topics have been handed out. We have actually only begun to play in two (out of six, hopefully to become eight later in the year) classes....
But things are going swimmingly. The biggest lesson I've learned is that premade characters are always the way to go in the classroom. I had hoped to have one class with a longer time slot generate characters in class, using the character generation process as a springboard for discussing various types of jobs, cultures, and social strata in medieval europe...that didn't work so well. D&D character generation is just too complex to pull off in a class of eager chatty students. Too many options to explain, to many variables to consider. I quickly took that class down the same route I used in the others: hand out premade characters, let the students choose one, and then let them personalize their choice by picking a historically/culturally accurate name, an alignment, and a bit of backstory. This allows you to hit the ground running, but still lets students feel a bit invested in their character. The fact that you get to sneak in some cultural research into the students' creating of background stories is just gravy.
My fears of D&D paranoia amongst students and/or parents have thus far proved groundless. Four students have actually had their parents go out and buy them a Player's Handbook. Another student joined my class in the second week because his parents heard I was using D&D, which excited them quite a bit. I had one student ask "Doesn't that game make people commit suicide or something?" I replied that I've been playing it since the 7th grade and have not killed myself even once. She shrugged and said "Cool. Can I be the one that makes pacts with demons or whatever?" End of controversy.
I've picked up a few of Goodman Games' DM Campaign Record books to use alongside my Lesson Planner. They're really turning out to be handy little teaching aids. I highly recommend them if you're looking for a campaign workbook/reference booklet of some sort.
That's all for now. I'll try to find time to give a more detailed update on a specific class or two in the near future. Start of the school year is pretty hectic though, so my available blogging time is likely to be minimal for a few more weeks....
Well okay, the first weeks have been largely classroom teaching and discussion on the game settings. Students have chosen and personalized their characters. Reading assignments have been assigned. Presentation topics have been handed out. We have actually only begun to play in two (out of six, hopefully to become eight later in the year) classes....
But things are going swimmingly. The biggest lesson I've learned is that premade characters are always the way to go in the classroom. I had hoped to have one class with a longer time slot generate characters in class, using the character generation process as a springboard for discussing various types of jobs, cultures, and social strata in medieval europe...that didn't work so well. D&D character generation is just too complex to pull off in a class of eager chatty students. Too many options to explain, to many variables to consider. I quickly took that class down the same route I used in the others: hand out premade characters, let the students choose one, and then let them personalize their choice by picking a historically/culturally accurate name, an alignment, and a bit of backstory. This allows you to hit the ground running, but still lets students feel a bit invested in their character. The fact that you get to sneak in some cultural research into the students' creating of background stories is just gravy.
My fears of D&D paranoia amongst students and/or parents have thus far proved groundless. Four students have actually had their parents go out and buy them a Player's Handbook. Another student joined my class in the second week because his parents heard I was using D&D, which excited them quite a bit. I had one student ask "Doesn't that game make people commit suicide or something?" I replied that I've been playing it since the 7th grade and have not killed myself even once. She shrugged and said "Cool. Can I be the one that makes pacts with demons or whatever?" End of controversy.
I've picked up a few of Goodman Games' DM Campaign Record books to use alongside my Lesson Planner. They're really turning out to be handy little teaching aids. I highly recommend them if you're looking for a campaign workbook/reference booklet of some sort.
That's all for now. I'll try to find time to give a more detailed update on a specific class or two in the near future. Start of the school year is pretty hectic though, so my available blogging time is likely to be minimal for a few more weeks....
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