Kevin Hodgson - I’m lucky to be a teacher. No one will likely think it odd or strange that I have Muppet stuff all around my sixth grade classroom. It’s part my “quote creative end-quote” environment. Better still, I have long taught a unit around scriptwriting, which culminates in a collaborative puppet show performance of an original play with student-made puppets before a real audience of younger students in our school.
How do I get my students to envision the possibilities of puppets? The Muppets, of course. As the years go on, and the television show and feature films fade a bit into pop culture memory, I find it more and more likely that my students have heard of The Muppets but have never seen The Muppets, other than their Sesame Street cousins.
So, I do my duty and unleash the antics of Jim Henson and his gang of puppeteers on my sixth graders, and then we have a blast dissecting what we have seen on the screen:
- What kind of puppets were being used? Hand, body or string?
- How did the use of voice and dialogue create a sense of character?
- How did they use humor to make a point or tell a story?
- What design elements went into the actual making of the puppets?
- And more - much more
If you would like to tell your Muppet story as a part of the Muppet Fan Testimonials series, email Ryan Dosier at ryguy102390@gmail.com with your submission and it will be published on The Muppet Mindset!
The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier