Sweetland: I did it!

14 February 2012

As I've talked about in a few of my previous blog posts, my students are continuing with the Sweetland role play activity. Last week, they chose a character and got to know one another. Once we established our characters, I created a conflict by telling the kids that one of them was responsible for eating the Apple Palace and Gingerbread Houses. This week, they have to convince me (the judge) that they did it.

I'll share with you all their general arguments, and then a few of my favorite quotes from the discussion.

Pilot:
He argued that he was responsible because he is crazy and hates the queen. He ate the Apple Palace because he dislikes her and wants to leave her without a home. He argued that the witch couldn't have done it because she was so often defeated by the firefighter.

Firefighter:
He seemed to be a little confused about which side he was arguing for. He said that he puts out fires and helps with the Sweetland crops. He argued that the witch isn't environmentally-friendly. He said that it was old and contaminates the air such that the people can't go out into the street. 

Witch:
She argued that she did it because she is crazy, powerful, and hates people. Also, she has potions in order to do bad things.

Quotes:

• "You fall into the Jello Pool and you cry like a baby."
• "You're truck has got a motor and can contaminate." She was arguing that his truck wasn't as environmentally-friendly as her broom.
• "Gas is made of orange juice candy. It doesn't contaminate." His reply to her accusation. 
• "Firefighter make the witch angry, and the witch is bad."

Ultimately, I decided that the Witch did it because she was the only one who could concretely tell me that she had done "bad things." The other two argued against her, but they couldn't really give me strong enough reasons to support their claim.