The mandatory state testing has everyone’s schedules mixed up at my school. One of the ways I’m trying to balance that is by starting some of my reading/writing groups on a role-playing game. These are 4th and 5th graders, so I’ve chosen a very basic one. It’s called No Thank You, Evil.

I think most everyone knows that the premise of a role-playing game is to make up a character and have adventures in the world of the game. Because this is at school, I’m modifying the game in some ways. I’m de-emphasizing battles and looting of treasure. Instead, they’ll be in social situations where they have to work as a team. These are special ed students, so they’ll be solving puzzles and the like, which coincidentally will have to do with their learning goals.

We’ve barely gotten started, but they seem to be enjoying the change of pace. It should be a fun way to wind down the school year.

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