Im also a teacher and if my students ever asked me to DM I would highly consider it, but i would do it as a part of club with another adult (Covering my A$$) present just like I do my tutoring.
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I think this is going overboard, and almost asking for trouble because it raises suspicion among parents who wouldn't otherwise worry. We expect to sign releases for sports due to the reasonable risk of injury, but if the aforementioned Chess Club suddenly had parents signing injury releases there would be questions.
An RPG club is about storytelling. It is no different in that regard than the Literary Magazine, which I'm pretty certain does not have parents sign release forms acknowledging that the school does not promote promiscuity or suicide or mental illness despite the overwhelming teen-angst of the poetry content and predominant subject-matter of the submissions.
As a former Submissions Editor of my LitMag, I speak from experience. All high school poetry is about dancing or unicorns (sometimes butterflies) or death, hence my suggestion one year that our cover art feature the Dancing Unicorns of Death ... the advisors rejected my idea (James, I want royalties if you use this).
Finally, if the History/Antiquities Club has parents sign forms that state that even though the students are studying pagan pantheons the school does not promote the idea that they are "real" deities, then so should you. Otherwise, forget it. I remember reading Dante's Inferno in AP English without any sort of paperwork disavowing any implied endorsement by the school of the reality of the nine levels of Hell or a three-headed Satan eternally...
From what I read, you don't seem to be terribly familiar with high school politics. As a high school teacher even a small misstep can get you fired. And the difference between D&D and the LitMag is that D&D has a huge negative stigma associated with it in the past, some of the parents may remember that and immediately cry foul without ever bothering to do research. In fact, those parents are the ones that cause the most problems for teachers because they're noisy, completely sure that they're right, and are determined to prove it.
Be careful, get permission slips, inform the administration, and do whatever else you have to in order to protect yourself, but if it weren't for Mr. Tivnan taking a chance and teaching us to game in 5th grade, I wouldn't have this job.
Just sayin'.
As long as D&D's been around a couple of the kids folks probably played AD&D once or twice in collage.
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... As a high school teacher even a small misstep can get you fired. And the difference between D&D and the LitMag is that D&D has a huge negative stigma associated with it in the past, some of the parents may remember that and immediately cry foul without ever bothering to do research. ...
A very good reason to make it clear that this is a club for playing the Pathfinder Role Playing Game :)
As RezDave suggests, I think I'll start by running a few sessions, but with the goal of transitioning into the background.
I'll have assistant DMs to do things like run specific encounters, create NPCs or handle plot questions until they feel ready to take the reigns, with me as an advisor.
BTW RezDave, which Rez?
this is probably the best idea as well having a paperwork shield of permission from parents
but good luck to you ether way, and thank you for binning a good teacher.
i am not afraid to say that trading card games like magic the gathering and table top games like dnd helped me become better at math as well as improving my ability to read. all of which was suggested by my 6th grade reading teacher
In this day and age it’s not worth it. You just need one kid or parent throwing out an accusation and you'll either be caught up in an embarrassing situation or worse. If you want to encourage them to get into the hobby on their own that's cool, but doing a regular social engagement with students is crossing the line.
Some of these posts make me extremly sad.
I think it's the coolest thing in the world... go for it!
UUURRRGGG!!!!
It ticks me off that this question even has to be pondered or asked. People are people, not students or teachers. Those are merely titles applied to certain relationships at certain times. When you're not teaching them, you're not their teacher, you're a human being. When they aren't in class, they aren't students, they're human beings. We all really should be able to relate to each other on that level.
Unfortunately, in most peoples minds, title = identity, and we have to live with that, which is the reason that this question has to be asked.
It is unfortunate, but it is reality. I had a teacher in my A/V program in college who would get involved with student projects(short films, music videos), and got a lot of complaints. The students whom he didn't spend time out of class, on-set with would complain that other students were getting special treatment. It showed favoritism, even if he didn't really do much other than have a look at production and offer an idea or two. The students who did poorly in class would use that as their excuse; they didn't have the teacher there to "do their work for them".
Oddly enough, after I left school, the teacher wound up playing in my band. Even long after the titles of "teacher" and "student" were shed, it still felt really weird teaching him songs and giving orders. Having been a student of his I feel had a dramatic impact on how I view him, even though I've been out of school nearly two years. If I had never met him prior to his joining my band, it would have been completely different.
DMing for students would be a similar situation I think. Any time spent out of class can be viewed as "favoritism" by some other student, even if class subjects are never brought up at all in said meetings. If at all possible, do not allow students in your class in the game. Once you start making exceptions, it starts a slippery slope towards having to explain yourself at every turn, and puts you more under the microscope... Not worth it just for some gaming.
I teach High School math. Some of my students found out I DM, and they asked me to run a session at a school-sponsored game night. I did and everyone had fun, but is it too weird to make it a regular thing? One of the players is actually in my algebra class.
What say you?
I guy I know who teaches middle school started a role playing club at his school and runs his game officially through school channels. The school even gives him some money to pay for books and dice Perhaps this is something you could do also.
EDIT: Though it looks that's already been suggested and I should read through all posts before responding....
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As a former high school teacher who was let go for what would in any other profession be a non-event, I suggest you skip it. Find some adults or college kids to play with. There's just too much BS that can happen that will get you fired or worse.
In fact, my incident soured me on the whole teaching thing altogether. I swiched careers, and wouldn't go back for anything.
The students who did poorly in class would use that as their excuse; they didn't have the teacher there to "do their work for them".
What's rather funny and sad is that those students that were doing poorly, if they just asked him, he probably would have done the same for them.
You want a weird shift in relations involving a teacher, my Poli Sci teacher last year used to be the bassist for a punk band I used to go see all the time. I never ended up looking at his as my "teacher" because of it. Always looked at him as an equal, treated him that way (outside of class at least), and I still to this day run into him at shows (as well as protests and other direct action, since we're both activists in the anarchist "scene" around here).
Be careful, get permission slips, inform the administration, and do whatever else you have to in order to protect yourself, but if it weren't for Mr. Tivnan taking a chance and teaching us to game in 5th grade, I wouldn't have this job.
Just sayin'.
You should write that story up some time. TD's story practically had me blubbering.