Storytelling - The Art of Puppet Shows
After reading Denise E. Agosto's article this week and reading fellow class members' blogs, I was transported back to my youth. I remembered loving to go to the public library for story time. Sometimes, we would be treated with the occasional puppet show. This is a memory that I have not tapped into for years until this week. The art of puppetry is an excellent way to share the love of storytelling in a manner that is "unplugged" and magical. Who would have guessed that these storytelling "interactions [would have such an] impact on language development, [and] later, cognitive functioning, personality, and social behaviors" (Greene & Del Negro, 2010, p 37).
As I continued to reminisce, I thought about how "storytelling [can] build community among students...to enhance memory recall, in support [of] literacy development, and to promote creative thinking" (Agosto, 2016, p.22). What a great way to have students display their comprehension (recall), but also dive deeper into the meaning and moral of the story. Greene and Del Negro point out how storytelling has had a great impact with students who are differently-abled. Storytelling allowed "children who had trouble putting their thoughts into words [to become] increasingly articulate and engaged" (Greene & Del Negro, 2010, p 112). Combine storytelling with puppetry and you have a winning combination. Agosto speaks of "visualization" and "cognitive engagement", what a great way to have elementary students of any ability to display their understanding but through puppets. Creating the characters, the scenery, and the script, applies the skills Agosto noted that are needed to show their critical thinking skills and apply their story sequencing ability (Agosto, 2016, p.22).
With puppetry, you can be as creative as you like, and as simple or detailed as you choose. This allows for expectations to be leveled and/or matched to each individual child's ability. You may find that you may be surprised at the outcome. Here is a quick link with directions and an example of needed supplies: Storytelling with Puppets.
This seems all well and good for younger students, but how could we apply this to older students? In continuing my research, I located a list of Aesop's fables, which includes some of his lesser known fables. This is a great link because it does give the moral of each fable, which can be difficult for students to determine based on their knowledge, as well as a link to lesson plans for teachers. While looking through these fables, I was drawn to five specific fables, as I had NEVER heard of them and they had great messages for older children to apply to their everyday lives.
The Dancing Monkeys ("Not everything you see is what it appears to be")
The Swallow and the Crow ("Fair weather friends aren't worth much")
The Dog and the Hare ("No one can be a friend if you know not whether to trust or distrust")
The Hare with Many Friends ("He who has many friends, has No friends")
The Eagle, the Cat, and the Wild Sow ("Don't let fear paralyze you")
Older students have many lessons to learn and how to navigate through difficult situations. Introducing students to these lesser known fables removes the stigma of storytelling being just for "children". So how can we involve older students into the art of storytelling and creativity? Older students may not be as eager to work with puppets, but they may be more inclined to use another "visualization" means like making a video. Here is an example of teens re-telling "The Eagle, the Cat, and the Wild Sow" from SchoolTube.
These creative outlets allow children of all ages to realize that everyone is and can be a great storyteller, as David Phillips presented in his TedTalk from this week's readings. Whether students are making puppets and scenery or producing a school film allows children to make an emotional investment in storytelling (Phillips, 2015; TED 2016).
References
Agosto, D. (2016). Why storytelling matters: Unveiling the literacy benefits of storytelling. Children and Librarians. Summer. pp. 21- 26.
Dailey, r. (2019, August 25). The eagle, the cat, and the wild sow. Aesop's Fables for Teens. [Video]. SchoolTube. https://www.schooltube.com/media/The+Eagle%2C+ the+Cat%2C+and+the+Wild+Sow/1_bvom8e1b .
Greene, E. & Del Negro, J. (2010). Storytelling: Art and technique (4th ed.). Libraries Unlimited.
Long, R. (2020, September 24). Aesop's Fables - Online Collection. StarSystems. https://aesopfables.com/aesopsel.html
Phillips, D. (2017, March 16). The magical science of storytelling [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj-hdQMa3uA.
Simondi, T. (2020, December 3). Fables of Aesop. Aesop's Fables Home Page. Retrieved September 6, 2021. https://fablesofaesop.com/.
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI love your post! As a kindergarten teacher, I can easily see the benefits of storytelling and how I could easily use it in an elementary school. However, I hadn't put much thought into how it could be used for older students. I love the suggestion of creating a film. What a wonderful way for older students to participate in storytelling and appeal to their interests! Thanks for sharing the video and suggestion. I could even see using it with upper elementary students. What a great idea!
-Tiffany Abrahani
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteIf this is your first posting, you did an excellent job!
Puppetry is an excellent way to help young minds understand the themes of fables. You mentioned that you weren't sure how older children would react to puppetry: I think they would love it. Several of my teaching years included grades 5-8, and they love puppetry. We sometimes forget that they are still children though in today's world they seem to grow up so much faster. Give it a try! Sure, they will often need to be guided back to the purpose of the assignment, but, in the end, they will love it and learn your intended goals.
Jeri Rogers
Hello Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant idea, translating fables into lessons for older students! I teach middle school theatre and love this idea. I know that the teacher that retired before me had many puppets that the kids could use in skits in theatre class, including marionette puppets. The art teacher has also mentioned doing a shadow puppet show in conjunction with me if our musical gets cancelled again this year. I think puppets would be a great way for students to explore these literary works and interpret their messages.
I crafted and used puppets in a video I created with a group in high school to retell some of the Greek mythology stories. We all felt rather silly but had a great time doing it and filming it. And it was obviously a great activity since it still sticks with me over a decade later.
Also, I happened upon a marionette puppet show in a park in Paris, France in 2011. The audience was filled with people of all ages delighted at the show. That was actually one of my favorite parts of Paris. So, I think you are correct to see the value in puppetry for all ages and applications!
Thank you for sharing this great idea with us!
Kayla Simonson
Hi Elizabeth!
ReplyDeleteI love your idea of choosing lesser known fables for older students so that they buy more into it! We always think of fables as being used for young children, but their benefits are really useful for all ages. I also love how you brought up puppetry because I was brainstorming this week about how I want to use props for storytelling assignments and I immediately thought of using puppets. It's a great visual to interpret a story and keep the audience's attention. I will admit that it makes me nervous because it's way out of my comfort zone, but it's certainly something that I would like to explore. I always enjoyed the visual that it provided for me when I was a kid and I know that it's got to be a huge benefit for visual learners as well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and resources!
-Jayme Dunn
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteI love your idea of using puppets for storytelling. I know that the younger students love using puppets but I think the older students will as well. There is something engaging and funny about using puppets when you're older and I think that older students would respond well to the activity and have fun with it. I think fables are a great way for students of all ages to act out a story with puppets! Fables are short enough stories that they wouldn't be over complicated. I also really like your idea of having older students create a video. It would be awesome to provide the students with an opportunity to film their puppet show and edit the video to add music or special effects that take the puppets to another level.
I really like how you said that storytelling builds community. This is something I have seen first hand as students in my previous classes have worked together to create skits about information we learned or perform readers theaters. Watching the students create stories and share ideas about how to preform those stories always made me so happy as the students listened to one another and became closer to one another through working together on a common goal.
-Jessica