Anyone who has ever taught high school or middle school students knows that their creativity and excitement can be infectious. When I have a particularly creative group, I like to adjust some of my units to give them more opportunities to play. One way that I enjoy adding some "play" into my units is through acting. My students love creating silly stories and acting out their ideas. They enjoy playing other characters, getting creative with their ideas and scripts, and performing their well-developed ideas for their peers. When I have a group that seems particularly eager to get on their feet and do a little acting, I adapt my activities to give them more opportunities for these types of performances.

Sometimes, as teachers, we shy away from performance-based activities to reduce stress. However, despite the concerns and anxiety that some students have for performing in front of peers, I find that my students are wildly successful with acting presentations, so acting pieces and scripts prove to be excellent forms of assessment (summative or formative). The audience provides accountability that leads to more in-depth discussion and development of the scripts, more focused rehearsal, and I also find that my students are more likely to seek out feedback before presentations (yay!). These are all skills that I value, and I love that these activities inspire so much attention from them.