Role Assignments
The next day, I had the students request which role they wanted to play and explain why. We then went through each person’s request and created a list for the class to see. Based on the requests, who was in class that day, and what I knew about each child as a student, we worked so that each student had a part that fit their needs. We also discussed how each student should dress so that they could really accurately portray their character. For example, we decided that the judge should wear a robe and bring a gavel, the bailiff should wear a badge and carry handcuffs, and the Pope should wear an elaborate headpiece and robe. I stressed to the students that it is really important for them to get into their roles so that we can make the activity as authentic as possible. The list can be seen below. Again, I want to reiterate how this was an autonomous process. The students created the roles and then they themselves selected which part they would play. We looked at images of the different witnesses and the students concluded how they should dress. I think that this really helped the students engage in their roles and inspired them to work on the project without too much pushing from me.
Once the students had their roles, they needed to understand the function of each of the positions so that they could know what to prepare. I broke the students up by roles and had them read from the Mock Trial guide about each position. I wanted them to become familiar with the general role so that they could really engage with their specific character and learn to play the part. Finally, we were ready to start on the specifics of the trial.