Chapter 11 Puppets

Hi Suzanne!
I'm back! Here's chapter 11's discussion forum. Chapter 12 falls on week 12 our last week - should we still cover it or have students share their curriculum? Just thought I'd ask before finishing it up.

Chapter 11 Puppets
Reading Assignment: pgs. 325-348
Discussion Board by midnight Friday – complete one of the following:
After reading the chapter go to Center for PuppetryArts at http://www.puppet.org. This site is an interesting one to explore. You’ll find out a lot about puppet presentations. For example, click on “Museum Tour.” Select one of the puppet show themes, click on “show information,” and look at the PDF information offered. When you have finished exploring, write a short description of what you found that was new to you. Will you use any of this information to enhance your curriculum? What do you think would be most appealing to young children? Explain in writing.

Royal de Luxe’s amazing street parade, “The Visit of the Sultan of India Atop His Time-Travelling Elephant,” occurred from May to July 2006 and featured giant-sized puppets that were operated by 42 puppeteers. Do a Web search of “Sultan’s Elephant” in order to find information about this puppetry project created by a French street theatre company. You can also do a Web search for “You Tube” and then type in “Sultan’s Elephant.”

Using the information from your research on the “Sultan’s Elephant” write a brief reaction statement that addresses (at a minimum) the following points:
• Was the information contained on these Web sites revolutionary in any way?
• Have you ever seen or participated in a street or large venue puppet show? If yes, explain your feelings about the experience. If not, would you like to see one and why?
• Do you feel that this creative extravaganza was appropriate for all ages? Explain your rationale.
• What did you like most about this? What did you like least? Why?
• Describe what you imagine the experience would be like from a puppeteer’s viewpoint, from a 4 year-old’s viewpoint, and from an 8 year-old’s viewpoint.
• Using what you have learned about puppetry, explain why you would support (or not support) public monies being spent on community shows such as this one.
• How would you include puppetry in your curriculum? If you would not include it, why not?