Prepare for Temple Board Meeting, Part A: Reviewing the scenario and roles
- Distribute the Temple Board Meeting Scenario. Have a student read it out loud.
- Explain that each student (or pair of students) will become a member of this Temple Board. They will be assigned a role to play and, using the arguments they gathered from the documents they are about to examine, they will need to present their point of view on this issue based on the fictional character they were assigned. The documents they will be examining include letters, photographs, and statements from the time of the Civil Rights Movement, as well as more recently written descriptions of what life was like during that period.
- Distribute the Board Member Scenarios. You may distribute these randomly or choose ahead of time who you want to play each role. (If you choose not to play the role of the Temple President yourself, remember to hand out this scenario along with the others.)
- Give your students time to read over their scenarios, think about their characters, and take some initial notes on their arguments (space for this is provided on the scenario work sheet). They may do this alone, in pairs, or in small groups; you could also organize them in two facing lines or in an inner circle and outer circle so that everyone is facing someone and must engage in conversation. You could have them reflect in writing, in the form of journaling or a more formal letter written in character to present his/her argument to the board (these can then be shared at the end of the board meeting as part of the wrap up).
