Puppet Power
Several days ago a language specialist came to see me about several iPads that were unable to download the STAR Reading Assessment. I was sitting behind the circulation desk, she was standing in front of me, and in her arms she carried a tote piled with the misbehaving technology, aimed right at my eye-level, with an old label on it reading “Puppets.” The irony quietly astounded me. I instantly worried that the digital age has elbowed these age-old soothsayers dangerously out of view. The iPad can’t deliver the goods, but a puppet sure could. I imagined how enthralled a child would be at taking an assessment from one. Then in some kind of sci-fi turn of the mind I wondered if technology has become a new form of puppet? I think it has. As educators, many of us realize that using puppets can help facilitate a child’s language skills. So does an iPAD. But where did the puppets that used to be in that bin get off to? It definitely has the makings for a great picture book, doesn’t it? There is some kind of parable in all of this, I just know it.
When I opened the paper at lunch yesterday I read the announcement for a fantastic little puppet show in Plainfield, VT this weekend at the Opera House. Mummenschanz had put on what I can only assume was a spectacular show this past Tuesday night at Fuller Hall in St. Johnsbury. Politics aside, Bread and Puppet Theatre is not too far from where I sit in Danville. So there are puppets—right here in VT—at least 2 shows in one week along a small corridor of Route 2. Phew.
My son and daughter, both teens, ruefully watched the crowd gathering at Fuller Hall when I picked them up from sports practice that evening: ”I can’t believe we’re missing this,” said Peter. “You took us to all that stuff when we were little,” Elsa wistfully added. So true—they were young and impressionable (still are, but the subject of teens is a whole other blog, I suppose) and they LOVED puppets. Still do. Who doesn’t??
As the teacher was leaving the library I mentioned the label to her and she chuckled, saying she hadn’t noticed it. Then, she remembered how once, a long time ago, she had a student who simply refused to leave her homeroom to come for services until one day she brought a puppet who invited her along—and that was the end of her refusing to go. So simple. So telling of the power of a puppet. Let’s be careful not to lose sight of them in the 21stCentury. I might flesh the puppets-gone-AWOL idea out a bit (I should probably just let Drew Daywalt handle it)), I might think a little harder and figure out the parable thing. The next time I fire up an iPad I will eye it for signs of its puppetness…stay tuned for what could be a modern day episode of “The Twilight Zone.”
For now, I dug around in the cupboards in the back room of the library and found an unused tote for my colleague. I labeled it “iPads.” I also brought her a few popsicle sticks and some magic markers that can go in the bin for puppets. It won’t take long for that kid who finishes up his assessment to make one before going back to class.
