Reacting to Reacting: Selfish Reasons to Become a Gamemaster

Dice, or, as I like to call them, "contingency enhancers." 

There are some great reasons to teach a Reacting to the Past class. Many are pedagogical-- it awakens students' interests, forces them to exercise unfamiliar skills, and introduces the idea of contingency-- that things could have turned out differently than they did. 

However, there are also a few purely selfish reasons you should consider it. I recently had the opportunity to reflect on these in an effort to encourage interest in an RTTP workshop in our department, so I'll share a few of my favorites: 

1. It is an instructor-friendly way to teach a stand-alone for the first time. You have some built-in scheduling provided; rather than crafting daily plans for an entire semester, your syllabus only has to figure out how to weave together the schedules for the games you've chosen with preparation, reflection, etcetera. This can still be challenging, no question-- but sometimes, a few limits on what you have to fit into a semester can help you prioritize what's remaining, or provide a framework into which you can slot other things in. 

2. It allows you to say while on the job market or applying for teaching-related awards, etc, that you have experimented with innovative pedagogies. Even if you conclude that you don't like the system, you'll come out the other side with plenty of ideas about what sorts of things worked and which didn't-- ideas which will help to inform a teaching philosophy.

3. It develops your teaching abilities in unexpected ways. One example: I became much more comfortable with periodic silences in the classroom. One of the hardest things to learn about teaching is to be comfortable with silence as you wait for student responses to a question or discussion topic. Instructors during an RTTP game often sit in the back of the room as class is run by a student playing the role of an authority. You'll have ample time to develop a relationship with waiting patiently for students to find their own answers. Later, in a more conventionally organized class, I received positive feedback from an observer on my willingness to let silence happen in the classroom. 

If you've used or played Reacting games in your courses, what did you learn from it? If not, what questions do you have about ways it can benefit you personally?

Related Links: 

An explanation of the Reacting to the Past concept, from the Reacting Consortium. 

A few U of I folks (including myself and some of my students) discussing Reacting in a brief video.