Date: Wed, 7 Oct 2009 06:13:15 -0400
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: [Puptcrit] puppeteers--problem solvers


Agree with Charles.  The one big reason this teacher went to the MIT  
festival way back to Puppets: Education Magic was that I witnessed  
children problem solving when the Ninots came to our school to help  
me run a school circus, helping kids build some big puppets the year  
before.    Liz F


On Oct 6, 2009, at 10:05 PM, Charles Taylor wrote:

  especially liked =93Necessity is the Mother of Invention---one of the  
appeals of puppetry to many, is that it needs solutions to problems--- 
and all those 'how can I ?' questions on puptcrit just confirms this.  
- Even determining WHAT is needed can be a challenge.=93

That is what art teaches: Solving Problems. That is what creative  
puppeteers do: Solve Problems.

It is unfortunate that in this age the arts are being diminished in  
elementary public education with more time being spent on academics  
with the purpose to raise test scores.  Fewer teachers find time for  
art, music, puppetry, drama.  All the lip service to problem solving  
in education is for naught!  In kindergarten, even blocks have been  
drummed out of most kindergarten curriculums because those in charge  
don=92t see the value in blocks for problem solving.

My puppetry arts were discouraged because in recent years supervisors  
couldn't or wouldn't see the value of puppetry in education even  
though I demonstrated how it could improve academic achievement.  The  
bias in Southern California and Long Beach Unified School District  
specifically is now  stronger than any  quality puppet program could  
overcome. It comes from the top Superintendent of Instruction.

  Too sad how some academicians are limited and limiting the  
experiences of children all across the nation.

That=92s my soap box.

Charles Taylor

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