Communication should be of the utmost importance to a teacher. She/he should consider all tools at her/his disposal to get the point across to kids. All the planning and research in the world can’t be used unless the teacher knows how to communicate it to students. Direct communication like speaking to a class or one-to-one has it’s place of course as probably the most important and effective mode of transporting knowledge from teacher to student. Still, indirect or implicit communication can have a stronger impact in select situations. For example, when teaching social rules of the classroom, a skit or puppet show may be more effective than a lecture. The stuents can see themselves and their peers in the puppet and not feel self-conscious or defensive about the content. Sometimes, even having the kids make brown bag puppets or other type and then allowing them to speak through the puppet.
I got these 2 puppets from my friend who sort of collects them. Ever since we were kids, we were both playing with puppets. The first one was probably my first birthday. My friend has been a collector and puppeteer ever since. I asked him if he knew the best place to buy some. I found out Toys R Us had a nice selection online. I was very fortunate that day because he gave me two high quality puppets as gifts. I use “Mr. Pig and duck” once in a while in my teaching. Anytime I am about to make an word picture or any sort of example, I think of using them. The kids attention is drawn to them like moths to a light bulb. It never ceases to amaze me how powerful puppets are to captivate student attention.