I'm a teacher at a small high school and am interested in starting up a DnD club. I think it would be a great way to encourage reading, math, and social skills. Plus it would be a lot of fun!
Anyways, I am wondering if there are any other high school teachers here in the forums who have done this. Any advice would be welcome. Things that worked. Things that didn't. Anything I should keep in mind concerning having such a thing in a high school environment. Especially I would love to hear any suggestions as to how to properly promote such an activity to students. Out of the 500 plus students at our school I'm sure maybe some might already be into the game and would join, but its possible that none of them are.
Any and all suggestions are most welcome!
The thing is, why should they play around you? Emotions can run high, and more than one profanity was yelled in that group. Whether due to a character death or jubilant success teenagers tend to express themselves verbally with words administrators do not approve of. Some campaigns also have subject matter or topics, run by teenagers and for teenagers, that responsible adults do not feel comfortable condoning, especially on school grounds.
Do you have a standing policy of how you will address those issues?
Lastly, there was one person in the group no one could stand. In a game where all kinds of horrible things can happen to anyone, most terrible things were inflicted on this one player's character by other players. I have no suggestions for how to deal with this, other than some people do not play with others. Keep it in mind.
The point about favoritism, or differential treatment, is certainly a concern. But again, the school's rules and consequences can be leaned on for support. A kid isn't going to have any different experience in a club than (s)he is already having in the classroom.
The real problem I see is the political side of this. While roleplaying has gained ground in the public eye, it can still be viewed through the same prejudices that is has since it started. Some parents may see a DnD club as occult in nature and they can raise all sorts of hullabaloo. If you as a teacher endorse the club, it may be your neck on the line when things get heated. It's also important to consider the role you as a faculty member play in the club.
In my high school, it was not as big a deal. You had to have a minimum of 10 students active in the club. You had to have one faculty member willing to 'sponsor' the club. All that meant was a teacher or administrator had to be there to make sure stuff didn't get broken/stolen. The sponsor didn't have to have anything to do with the club, what went on at meetings, or how people behaved. (S)he just babysat. This may not be the case in your school. Keep in mind the ramifications if some parent REALLY objected to what their kid was doing.
For the players in the club, it's no different than playing in any other campaign. If you don't want to be there, don't. The larger the club, the easier it will be to cater to everyone's needs. If the club is smaller, then it might be better to decided what will be played before hand; and what happens when an in-game/out-of-game conflict occurs, whether it be player/player or player/DM.
We used an empty class room. Put a notice on the student board. You might want to advertise a few more game types to pull in a wider audience. Those who don't know D&D might come in and get "hooked".
Just my two coppers.
I'd first like to say your rock, because... you rock.
You'll need a battle map and some markers, maybe a drawer for the D&D stuff.
You might also want to have some White wolf being played on the alternative group, I haven't played any of their games yet, but white wolf products are supposed to deal more heavily on social interactions and thus appeal to girls more as well.