Blog Takeover by Sophie Meuch

It’s Tuesday morning and I’m greeting my student, D, with my hands cupped around my coffee, trying to engage him by asking questions about his week to ease our way into math problem solving. I raise my eyebrows to suggest to my partner Chase Woolner, “Try the puppet?” from across the room. Chase puts the puppet around his hand and brings it to life. D does a double take from his YouTube browser to the Zoom screen and it takes maybe 3 seconds for him to ask, “Wait, what’s that?!” The puppet suspends his disbelief. I’ve got his attention. He wears a smile. And even though the puppet leaves and only makes an occasional appearance, D is now engaged, joyful, and we’ve tightened our connection.

In our next session D, who is in eighth grade, brings a hand puppet to the session without prompting.

Chase teaches puppetry at a K-6 school and is a performer with the Muppets, among other shows. I am a teacher and staff developer, supporting teachers with Balanced Literacy and CGI math. We have been building puppets and studying the benefits of puppets in education and therapy. Not surprising, there is so much research from other countries about the benefits of puppets in the classroom, yet the United States has barely any research. We also know there is extended evidence in the benefit of puppets in drama therapy and working through trauma. Frankly, there is potential in puppets.

Chase tells me, “No matter how fake a puppet looks, it will always be real. Whereas however real an animated or Computer Generated Image movie looks, it will always be fake.” Puppets are in the here and now, whom through the hands of a person come to life. They can extract emotions and help us work through problems in a role play, they can make silly mistakes through which we all learn, and bring joy to teachers and students. And in joyful classrooms, kids learn more.

As a child, Molly, a puppet from the Big Comfy Couch (shoutout PBS!) was a dear friend of mine. I had the plush version of her, I went to see her at the PBS store in downtown Chicago, and watched the show every day. As kids, we often form parasocial relationships with characters such as Elmo, Arthur, Daniel the Tiger, among many others.

Parasocial relationships are emotional one-way attachments that develop between an audience member and a media character (Horton & Wohl, 1956). Parasocial relationships are high in trust and safety because we will never get hurt by the character or puppet. A study by the Children’s Digital Media Center at Georgetown University in 2011 found evidence that toddlers learn more from a character they trust and know – Elmo in this study – more so than an unknown character or no character at all.

This is important because at the beginning of the school year, children typically require an adjustment period when meeting a new teacher for the first time to build trust.

Sophie with Molly, the puppet from The Big Comfy Couch

According to a Nordic study (Keogh et al. (2008)), puppets can actually reduce that adjustment period. “Puppets also lower the affective filter because puppets do not have the same status and authorship as a teacher, instead it is viewed as a peer” (Keogh et al. (2008)). A peer that students can take care of, confide in, have relaxed conversations with, and laugh with.

So, puppets in the classroom have the potential to impact a classroom climate positively by increasing:

Joy
Engagement
Communication
Social emotional learning

Places a puppet could be useful in the virtual classroom:

You have been noticing a group of students seems very lonely and want to role play with your puppet putting on and working through that emotion
You are teaching a writing strategy and bring in the puppet to model the “how”
You notice that the energy is low in your classroom, and bring in a puppet to give a moral boost and heighten engagement by talking to the students
You are aiming for a more dialogic classroom, so you have the puppet ask “Why do you think ___” to the class, so students have to explain to a puppet & peer instead of teacher

When getting started, don’t get too tied down by the mechanics of using a puppet. Anything can be a puppet. A plushie or stuffed animal can come to life through the hands of a puppeteer. Chase is a professional puppeteer, so I can’t compare my skills to him. Most of the time my movements don’t mimic the words I’m saying, but it’s the intention and idea to elicit joy that matters most.

Also, there is no script or curriculum for using a puppet. In a Reading and Writing Workshop and CGI Math Classroom, we notice, attend, ask, and listen to students. That drives our instruction. Similarly, we can notice, attend, ask, and listen to students and their social emotional wellbeing to support a more joyful and positive classroom climate through puppets. And then when we get back in the classroom, they can meet their new classmate and have their turn with their hand in the puppet.

If this feels interesting to you, give it a try. We love to study with teachers the impact puppets can have on classrooms, especially during virtual learning. If you’re interested in teaming up with Renee, Sophie, and Chase, reach out to renee@readwritethinkwithrenee.com, and if you’re looking for a puppet, check out our Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/BusyHandsStudioGoods.

Sources:

Donald Horton & R. Richard Wohl (1956) Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction, Psychiatry, 19:3, 215-229, DOI: 10.1080/00332747.1956.11023049

Keogh, B., Naylor, S., Maloney, J., & Simon, S. (2008). Puppets and engagement in science: a case study. Nordic Studies in Science Education, 4(2), 142–150.

Lauricella, Alexis & Gola, Alice Ann & Calvert, Sandra. (2011). Toddlers’ Learning From Socially Meaningful Video Characters. Media Psychology. 14. 216-232. 10.1080/15213269.2011.573465.