Doc Bear's Life-Skills Reading Program is a puppet-driven program. When Doc Bear comes into the room, he is, in a way, on stage, on the instructor's non-dominant hand. He is alive. From the very beginning of the lesson, he is "talking to" and listening to children; they become enchanted with him. Without the Doc Bear puppet, "Doc Bear's Life-skills Reading Program" is just another curriculum. Doc Bear makes the difference. How? Here's just part of the story on we like to call, the "Power of the Puppet."
The Doc Bear Puppet is the curriculum character because puppets are effective and magical:
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Children enjoy make believe.
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| Children enjoy characters that are closer to their size. Doc Bear is perceived by children as "someone" to whom they can relate.
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| Children enjoy characters because they do the unexpected. After all, they're not human.
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| Children watch a Doc Bear type puppet and are always more attentive when "he" is in the room. For the child, the puppet character becomes the teacher, the center of attention.
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| Using a puppet, like Doc Bear, is a very useful way of breaking through to reticent students. Even the quietest child becomes interested in what is going on when a puppet is present.
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| Using a puppet, like Doc Bear, in the classroom is analogous to a theatrical event.
When the puppet is in the classroom, it is a special event. Think theatrical! This makes attention getting easy.
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| Puppets, like Doc Bear, can be a tool to hold a child's attention and to give them logical reasons for changing their behavior. |
| Puppets are small, easy to transport and to operate, fun to see, have little cultural identification, can talk about embarrassing things, and can encourage people to think and talk by asking questions or by helping them see themselves more clearly.
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| Puppets help children in storytelling and role playing, encouraging creativity and language development.2 |
| Puppets provide simple, effective ways to connect social studies and language arts, promote cooperation, and teach about other cultures.3 |
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Puppets are effective aids in counseling children, especially in establishing trust and rapport.4
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| Puppets can be used in the classroom to teach, to tell stories, to introduce new students or books, and to develop children's cooperation, creativity, and coordination.5 |
| Puppets can be used as a way to integrate literature, writing, and computer technology.6 |
| Puppets "add magic" to any lesson.7 |
| Puppets can influence learning and behavior.8,9 |
| Doc Bear is a bear, so ethnic diversity is not an issue. He is "someone" who can relate to all children. |
| Doc Bear makes information accessible and acceptable to children in a language they can understand. |
| Doc Bear doesn'
t speak, but all eyes are on him, because he is the instructor. He
communicates by
- Looking at the children regurlarly.
- Shaking his head purposely in agreement.
- Whispering in the ear of his human counterpart/instructor.
- Shaking his body as he does when drying himself off, showing happiness or satisfaction.
- Looking at the students and responding, by whispering to the instructor, regularly, showing his involvement in the lesson.
- Going up to students to listen to their stories.
- Looking around purposely as an activity takes place.
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| Doc Bear helps children discuss issues in any way they wish. He is non-judgmental. There are no expectations as there might be from a teacher, parent, or other trusted adult.
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| Doc Bear, therefore, serves as a medium to get important health messages across to children.
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| Doc Bear combines humor and good, sound, information to convey how we can stay healthy
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| Having Doc Bear in the classroom is unique and different for most children in most schools. This uniqueness works to our advantage; learning happens to a higher degree. It takes less time to teach the same skills because Doc Bear has their attention immediately and through the course of the entire lesson.
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| Doc Bear engages the children as much as, or more, than other technologies that can be used to aid teaching. For example, compared to television and computers, Doc Bear is "live and in person," and this characteristic engages the child immediately, through the entire length of the lesson.
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| Doc Bear wears a traditional doctor,s scrubs because that quickly and easily communicates health to the children.
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| Doc Bear believes in, and demonstrates, unconditional love and caring to children. |
Because of the Doc Bear character, attention to the task of learning is easy and efficient throughout the "Doc Bear's Life-Skills Reading Program". This is true, for the most part, only when Doc Bear is actively involved in the lesson. As soon as he looks like he is just sitting on an instructor's hand, then the magic is gone and the students are lost to whatever they were thinking about, or doing, before the lesson began. It is therefore critical that Doc Bear play his part as the "instructor." He can only do this if the real instructor keeps him engaged in the lesson, has him communicating with students (see above; not just shaking his head in agreement during the length of a lesson), and communicates with him, listening and responding to the Doc Bear tips or tidbits of information whispered in the ear.
Doc Bear is not very demanding. All Doc Bear needs is an instructor who will use him purposely throughout the lesson, including him in as much of the teaching as possible. Since Doc Bear doesn't speak, simply having him do what you do, or some of what you do, while teaching will make him "come alive." When that happens you will truly experience the real part of the "Power of the Puppety" story: pure teaching joy.
References
- Oaks, Harold R. Puppets as an Intercultural Communication Tool. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Theatre Association (Chicago, Illinois, August 14-17, 1977). 1977
- Puppets and Stages: Tools of Imaginative Play. Texas Child Care; v20 n1 p22-28 Sum 1996
- Lindquist, Tarry. Social Studies Now Use Simple Puppets to Connect Core Subjects. Instructor; v106 n1 p91-92 Aug 1996
- Carter, Richard B.; Mason, Perry S. The Selection and Use of Puppets in Counseling. Professional School Counseling; v1 n5 p50-53 Jun 1998
- Fleming, Claire Scholz; and Others. Puppets Put Learning Center Stage. Learning; v11 n9 p94-98 Apr-May 1983
- Scali, Nancy. Puppets across the Curriculum. Writing Notebook: Creative Word Processing in the Classroom; v7 n4 p12-13 Apr-May 1990
- Morgan, Elizabeth. Add Magic to Your Curriculum with Puppets. Texas Child Care; v20 n1 p12-17 Sum 1996
- Shepherd, Terry R.; Koberstein, Janice. Books, Puppets, and Sharing: Teaching Preschool Children to Share. Psychology in the Schools; v26 n3 p311-16 Jul 1989
- Lowe, Joy L.; Matthew, Kathryn I. Puppets and Prose. Science and Children; v37 n8 p41-45 May 2000
© 2001 Michael Pejsach All right reserved
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