Executing a Meaningful and Successful Simulation in the Classroom

Executing a meaningful and successful simulation in the classroom is a wonderful feeling. Let me tell you why… Most of my education was the old school read the text and answering the *boring* questions. Anybody else? 🙋‍♀️ There’s only one simulation I remember. It was my junior year in an econ class. We were all assigned a country and had to learn the ins and outs of their economy. We ended up representing that country at a conference and had to buy and sell resources. It was memorable for sure! Reflecting back on it, I’ve learned how to make simulations in my classroom meaningful and successful.

Real quick, let’s talk about how simulations are the perfect learning opportunity for language learners! Who are the people who learn how to speak English or any other language? Those who must engage with the language in real-life situations. Real-life situations! Simulations are a recreation of real-life situations which is why they are so memorable and engaging. Language learners are able to experience the usage of language with real-world examples. I am excited to share with you tips and tricks so your simulations are the best they can be for your language learners. 

I’ve been teaching history for 6 years now. When I think about the simulations that I did in the first couple of years of teaching, I can say they were more geared for fun than they were for teaching content. There was also a time or two when the simulations didn’t go as planned.

When I co-taught, I didn’t have my own classroom. However, I had one section of dual-language history and needed a place to teach it! Teachers would loan me their classrooms during their preps. Most of the time they’d go prep elsewhere, but sometimes they’d stay. During a simulation for the Middle Ages, the teacher stayed…and it wasn’t a pretty lesson.

First of all, I wasn’t as prepared as I thought I was. Additionally, the students didn’t have the proper background knowledge needed to make connections. Since I wasn’t prepared and the students were lost, in the end, I had to tell them what the point of the simulation was. Ugh! They were supposed to be making the connections and figuring out the purpose of the simulation. The teacher who stayed behind didn’t fully understand Spanish, but I knew that she knew I totally bombed the simulation….like REALLY messed it up. 

I was so embarrassed, but she told me “It’s okay, it happens.” Her simple words have stuck with me and have made me feel better through several teacher mess-ups. They’ve also encouraged me to do better the next time.  

So I have put research and time into executing successful simulations in my classroom so they are worth my time and preparation. I am excited to share those tips and tricks with you so your simulations are the best they can be. These tips and tricks are useful for all ages and levels of simulations. 

Tips for a Successful and Meaningful Simulation in the Classroom

These tips I am about to share to make your simulations successful can be applied to almost any simulation. I’ve used them, particularly for history, but you can use them in any content area. 

1. Set clear learning and language goals

This should be done in all lessons and maybe I’m overkilling it here… But you seriously need to have clear learning and language goals during simulations in the classroom! How are students going to know what they need to learn if you don’t tell them?

Your lessons, including the simulation, can be read and interpreted in many ways so unless you are clear about what you want your students to learn, they may be pulling out something completely different than what you had in mind. It’s totally fine if they are learning more than what you want them to, but let’s face it we all have standards and there’s a focal point we want our students to have. This is especially useful for language learners as there is a lot for them to get “lost” in than the other learners. 

For more about learning goals, check out this blog post by ​​Sophia Montiel. Her focus is on using learning goals in math and hits on very important points of why you should use learning goals and how to have a student circle back around to them.  Learning goals assists in putting learning in the hands of students to make them independent learners. 🙌

2. Consider what preparation is needed

Remember how I mentioned bombing a simulation because I wasn’t prepared and the students didn’t have the right background knowledge? Yeah…don’t let that be you!

Consider these things when prepping students for the simulation:
-Is there certain vocabulary they need to know?
-How familiar should they be with the setting? 
-Are there major figures they need to be aware of?

As a teacher, you may forget how important these little things can be, but they could make or break the simulations in the classroom. Go through this list before you do the simulation to make sure you have all the basics covered!

3. Assure everyone has a role to ensure engagement

Even though I’m in my 6th year of teaching, this one hit me hard this year.  Make sure everyone has a role, even if it’s small, to make sure they stay engaged in the lesson. I made the mistake of having a few kids not have a role and just observe. I will never do this again!

First of all, it’s not fair for those students and they were also more likely to space out. I don’t blame them for doing that!  When everybody has a role, it allows more perspective to the simulation as well as keeps all your learners engaged. You may have to get creative to make sure everyone is involved. Here are a few roles you can try:

-Have students double up on roles
-Have a timer or note taker
-Assign an observer from a certain point of view

4. Reflection, reflection, reflection!

Do NOT skip out on the reflection part of your simulation. This is where you will tie back your learning goals and formalize what students have learned. This can be done in several ways. You could do a class discussion, answer some questions, create one-pager of the simulation, etc. These are all great opportunities to use sentence frames and starters! They will help students by giving them a starting point, model proper structure and grammar, and provide guidance if a student is stuck. Not sure how to use them? This post will help you create the perfect ones. 💃

If you go the question route (which I normally do), you NEED to check out these awesome “debriefing questions by category lists” by Jane Dunkel Chilcott. They are on pages 13 and 14 of the article.

 One great thing to add to the end of your simulation is a recap of the vocabulary used and learned. Have students share words and jot them down on the whiteboard. Your language learners (and all the other students) will reference this during their reflection, I promise! This is a great strategy to use during all your lessons and it doesn’t take much time. 

I love doing simulations in the beginning and middle of a unit to reiterate what we learned in the simulation to the videos and readings in the unit. Simulations in the classroom give students such a great toehold to the content, especially language learners!

Ready to Go Simulations for the Classroom

I have some simulations prepped and ready to go for you in my TPT stores, in Spanish and English! 🤩 Here is the link! If you’re not quite ready to start, make sure you follow me on TPT for updates. I’ll be adding more simulations that you’ll need to check out. There are also so many good simulations out there just by doing a simple Google search. Here is a video for the Middle Ages Simulation that I failed epically on. 

Recap

I hope this post encourages you to use simulations in your class. They are a great tool for all learners! The four tips and tricks I shared with you will make simulations in the classroom run smoothly and ensure they are memorable and educational for your students.  I highly suggest checking out Effective Use of Simulations in the Classroom by Jane Dunkel Chilcott for more info on simulations. She does a great job explaining simulations, providing examples of different types, and debriefing ideas. I’d love to hear from you what simulation you used these tips for executing a meaningful and successful simulation.