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This was our first discussion about our individual teaching philosophies. We seem to agree on everything (written above) based on experiences and readings from this class and others. We're all very big on collaboration and inclusivity, and making sure that shows in our classrooms. The only concern is that much of our curriculum is dictated by higher-ups and it's hard to follow the students' leads while also preparing them for these standards. I'm looking forward to seeing how our ideas grow and change, and I wonder if as we get more familiar with each other we will start to disagree more. I hope we have deeper discussions about how to practically create a classroom conducive to student learning and engagement.

We talked about our future classrooms and decorations. One of the easiest ways to promote collaboration is is setting up the desks in groups as opposed to rows, which can foster discussion without outright saying it. We also talked about how decorations have pedagogy and how they're so important! Simple things like posters, books, and classroom layout have a pretty significant impact on classroom culture, which we all agreed on. We're getting along very well, and I'm excited to see how this continues!

I've been wondering a lot about how our pedagogies will impact how we characterize each puppet. It's really easy to portray a "well-behaved" puppet with the stereotypes of American schooling, especially given that each of us grew up with those standards of learning. I haven't spent too much time around 1st graders (our age demographic) and I'm honestly not sure what they're like. I'm hoping to incorporate things that are popular now, and because I work at Easterly Parkway, I'm thinking of focusing on asking the first graders what they're into and observing how they communicate and play. From what I've seen so far, they're just so excited about everything. I'm hoping that our interest in teaching is exemplified by our script and our puppets' excitement to learn. When we discussed in class, we decided to focus less on the bullying or intentional exclusion of a character, and work on more of unintentional exclusion and unawareness because we all agreed that we don't think kids, especially first graders, are inherently mean or exclusionary.

We're only a few weeks into this (with the first two messed up by snow) but because of our agreement and discussion so far I have really high hopes for this group! I was skeptical because we were put together by the professor, but I truly do think we are going to be able to pull off a great puppet show. I really hope we keep it up as the semester gets tougher.

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Inperson Class 1 and 2! Mary Grace Moran

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Inperson Class 1 and 2! Mary Grace Moran

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It is now week two of in-person class and week four of the semester. It is nice to finally get to be in class and with my groupmates. I was really nervous about this class, and I think that that had a lot to do with the fact that there was so much unknown. However, now that I have actually been to the class I feel much more comfortable and less nervous. I am really optimistic about my group! We seem to get along quite well and have had great conversations already. I like that I do not have to be nervous to share my opinions with them because I feel like they will be receptive to my thoughts.

In our first class, we each made a trading card that described the struggles that we faced during our own early childhood education. It was really great to be able to reflect upon my own experiences, and also have the opportunity to hear the stories of my groupmates. I think that this activity will be very useful for our future puppet show planning. I honestly think we already have a great idea! We are thinking about doing our show about a visually impaired student and the struggles of fitting in. This idea was brought up by Cassidy and we all loved it. I think this is a great example of how we love hearing each other's ideas, and are willing to seriously consider them. I really look forward to having further discussions about our show and starting to really craft our script songs. We actually already have some ideas of what we could do for the songs in our show.

Also in today's class, we started sewing. I was really nervous because I had never sowed before. However, my group was so willing to help me and others, which was so comforting. They helped me learn how to knot the thread and reminded me how to do the stitch when I needed help. This gave me hope that we will be a very cohesive and helpful unit throughout the semester.

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Over the past week, I've been thinking about when we completed this "trading card" of ourselves as elementary school students. It was interesting to reflect back on some of my weaknesses/struggles at that age and see how much I have changed since then. After filling out the trading card, I have been thinking about some of the topics we could use for our puppet show. Some of the ideas I had include:

a student having trouble with perfectionism on assignments or making mistakes

a student having trouble making friends due to being shy

a student struggling with a specific subject at school (math, reading, art, etc.)

a student getting picked on for being a "teacher's pet".

In elementary school, I remember that I used to get really upset when points would get taken off assignments, especially when it was a silly mistake that I overlooked. Even though my parents did not stress over grades and emphasized that they just wanted me to try my best, I hated feeling like I had done something wrong in my work. Lots of my teachers tried to make me feel better about it, telling me it was only 1-2 points and that I didn't have to be upset! I think it would have been easier to have a classmate/peer to relate to me and that could be an idea for a skit. Another thing I struggled with at that age was being really shy/quiet, leading to difficulties making friends. I had friends from my neighborhood or the various sports teams I played on, but for some reason I could not translate that to a school setting. I struggled to be outgoing and open up to my classmates, which also affected my ability to work in groups on schoolwork. I ended up working individually a lot of the time, which I did not mind doing, but I still longed for the friendships that I saw around me. I ended up asking both my parents and one of my friends from my neighborhood for help. My parents reached out to my teacher for some additional tips specifically for the classroom and also gave me some of their own personal advice. It might be interesting to formulate a skit about a child having trouble making friends at school and approaching their teacher for help! It'll be interesting to collaborate with my group members and discuss ideas further to come up with a skit that encompasses a struggle we all shared!

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Week 6 - Character Sketch and Description - Ella Snyder

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Week 6 - Character Sketch and Description - Ella Snyder

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We’re almost halfway through the semester at this point (2 weeks out from Spring Break!) and we’ve already made tons of progress on the puppets!

This week, we created a general plan for our group about the different tasks we want to complete each week for the rest of the semester. Based on the projected due dates of the puppet, script, and video/presentation, I think we’re very prepared and should have no problem getting everything done. I am looking forward to constructing the puppets and creating the script for our video, as I think we have a really good idea for the show, and I think it’ll be successful in reaching our audience!

We also worked on our character sketch and description worksheet today, which was certainly a big step in our progress on the overall project. Our show is centered around Cassidy’s girlfriend’s experience with sight difficulties that couldn’t be corrected with glasses. Her classmates didn’t quite understand why her condition couldn’t be corrected with glasses, even though other people’s sight issues can.  Since our puppet show idea is based on her girlfriend’s real experience, we thought it might be a good idea to use our own names and backgrounds (as much as possible) for the puppets. We want the puppet show to be as personable as possible, so being able to tap into our personal emotions and thoughts from that age will be helpful. My puppet’s character sketch is shown above in the photo! We decided that our puppets will be in first grade, so they will be six or seven years old (depending on birthday). I was always on the younger side of my grade, so my puppet will be six years old. Like I mentioned above, we are using our own names and backgrounds for the puppets, so my puppet’s name is also Ella, with pronouns of she/her! For physical appearance, my puppet has the following characteristics:

-            Country of origin: U.S.

-            Race/ethnicity: This was not applicable to our puppets, as we are not using a topic surrounding that idea.

-            Eye color: Black – we are using googly eyes that Ava already has, so the eyes will be black.

-            My puppet will not have glasses/contacts, but some of the other puppets will!

-            Skin color: Green

-            Hair color: Brown

-            No distinguishing marks.

In addition, we decided to utilize our personal background and family characteristics, so my puppet’s relevant information is as follows:

-            Country of Origin: U.S.

-            Hometown: Cassidy’s girlfriend is from the suburbs of Philadelphia, so we decided that they would all be from that area, as well.

-            Social Class: Middle – I come from a middle-class family so it will be easy to take on that perspective for our show.

-            Family structure: My puppet will live with her mom, dad, and younger sister, just like I did as a kid!

-            Parent occupation(s): Nurse (mom) and Engineer (dad)

We wanted to be able to draw on our personal backgrounds and experiences throughout the project, so all of the family information is connected to our own backgrounds, with the exception of the hometown.

Finally, we are also connecting the puppet’s traits to our own traits at that age. My puppet will lean towards introversion, just as I did as a kid, with reserved and shy mannerisms. In addition, she will be kind, empathetic, and hardworking, enjoying things like school, sports, and spending time with family and friends. In terms of character flaws, my puppet will have trouble speaking up in class and/or in uncomfortable situations (i.e., a vulnerability of confrontation), just like I did as a young student. She is overall comfortable with herself and her abilities, but wishes she had more confidence in interacting with others. My puppet just wants everyone to get along and feel comfortable in the classroom, which will hopefully be reflected in the script and actions in the show!

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A few weeks ago, in class we worked on our trading card. We were told to draw a picture of ourselves when we were younger and describe some challenges you may have faced during that time. When I was younger, I believe that I didn’t go through many hard times, but one that definitely affected me was when my family moved. I vividly remember coming home from school in 2nd grade, and my mom sitting me down at our kitchen table. She began to tell me that she had some important news, the news was that we were moving… I remember immediately bursting into tears because I was so upset to leave my friends. After a few hours of crying, I remember finally letting the news sink in, but I was still devastated. I soaked in the last few weeks with my friends at school and continued to hang out with them over summer before I moved to my new school. August quickly came around and I began my new journey at Baker Elementary School, the elementary school in my new town, Moorestown. I vividly remember walking in and getting stares, no one knew who I was, and I didn’t know who any of them were. During class, everyone gathered in their little cliques and I felt so alone. I felt like I had no one in my new school and all I wanted to do was go home and cry. It was definitely super tough to try and branch out and make friends when everyone already had their little groups, but it was the only thing that I could do to make my future years in this new town bearable.  So overall, dealing with moving was definitely one of the most difficult times of my life when I was younger so I believed that this was the perfect opportunity to write about it.

Something else that I wanted to talk about in this Padlet post was our idea for our puppet show! Cassidy came up with the idea, from a real life experience, which is about a visually impaired student and all the struggles she may face. I think we have done a great job so far coming up with different ideas for our play and I am super excited about everything. Also in class today we began trying to sew, and I am not going to lie, I failed miserably. I have never sewn before so I was struggling a bunch so I am hoping that things get easier in the future. I plan on watching many sewing tutorials because I am definitely going to need the help! I couldn't even knot the thread when I was doing it and I spent the whole class just staring at the thread and my needle:( Overall, as much as I am excited about creating this puppet and performing this show, I am extremely nervous about sewing. I definitely need to get some help because I want my puppet to be perfect! I am so excited to see the outcome of our puppets at the end of the semester and I am excited to perform!

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Ava Sassano's Character Worksheet (2.13) and More! 

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Ava Sassano's Character Worksheet (2.13) and More! 

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Today in class we did a bunch of different things. To begin class like we always do, we started with responding to each other's reading responses, which I have quickly gained a love for doing. Although it is a bit time consuming reading a whole response and responding to it, I find it so informative. From reading my group’s posts I learn so much and I also find out new things about the readings that I may have missed when reading it. After we replied to the reading responses, we started on the character worksheet which was super fun! We began bringing our puppets to life by giving them a name, characteristics, and a backstory. I named my puppet Ava because I wanted it to reflect me in some way. I gave her the characteristics of loving singing and dancing because in reality, I really do love singing and dancing. I have been a dancer since I was two years old, so dance is truly a passion of mine. After we completed and turned in the character worksheet, we started on our character sketch which I really enjoyed. We colored our puppets and made them how we wanted them to look. Although I didn’t draw any clothes on my puppet just yet, I have high expectations of what I want my puppet to wear. I will definitely bring back some of my American Girl Doll clothes to dress my puppet in. I also added a little bow in my puppet’s hair because as a kid, I never left the house without a bow in my hair, a pink bow specifically. After completing our sketches, we decided to organize how we were going to go about each class. We wanted to make sure that our puppets are completed at the correct time, so we made an organized chart of what we plan to do and finish each class. I think this will definitely be very beneficial for us because it’ll help us stay on track. Although we have plenty of time to complete our puppets in class, I definitely want to take advantage of all the time I have outside of class to complete my puppet. I have so much free time so I definitely want to work on my puppet at home and over spring break.

Overall, today in class was super fun. Creating our sketches was really fun and it made the puppets feel more real when we were giving them characteristics and identities. This just makes me even more excited for our final project because since we’ve already put in so much work, I know our show at the end is going to be great. I am definitely a little anxious about singing and acting in front of the class because I tend to have stage fright especially when it comes to singing but I think everything is going to work out how it's meant to and it will be awesome.

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Our puppet construction is coming along! This picture is of my puppet so far. I have sewed the body, head, mouth, and one arm (of which exhausted my patience for the day so the second arm will have to wait). Ava missed last week due to sickness and Mary Grace missed this week, so I'm excited for when we all reunite to work on our script.

The script is not made yet, but we have a pretty good idea of the plot of our show. We are going to have one puppet with glasses (Mary Grace), one puppet that's legally blind (mine), and two puppets that are sighted. The conflict is going to arise from a lack of understanding from the puppets that aren't blind. For example, Mary Grace's might ask, "Why can't you just get glasses like me?" There will be some way where children are playing in a non-inclusive way, followed by my puppet being upset, and then a discussion on why we need to be inclusive and how to do so by modifying whatever game they were playing. Potentially, there could be a discussion about a cane and how/why it's being used, but that depends on if we're able to make an accurate one. My girlfriend (the blind inspiration) has eyes that point in two different directions which I would love to include, but I'm not sure how that will change or shape the discussion around blindness especially because young children love to point out differences. We want to make this non-malicious, because we all feel that children aren't inherently mean or intentional bullies. We also discussed potential movies or places to get songs like Victorious or Descendants.

Another big part of class discussion today was class practices like Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia. Although skewed (because two of the articles were purely about Reggio Emilia) we all agreed on the benefits of those practices. We talked about things like relationships with children and parents/families, the importance of child autonomy, and the need for teachers to take a step back in child learning. Ava made a really good point about the reevaluation of the adult roles in a classroom, and Mary Grace and Ella both added really informative multimedia components. One thing that the entire class talked a little about was the ability for the Reggio Emilia education practice to take place in the US because we are so individualized as a culture, and it might be hard to create such a close knit community between parents, children, and the teacher. However, I do think it's a wonderful idea to try, and in other classes we talked about doing things like home visits, surveys, and more to create a closer relationship between the entire family and the classroom. I think that knowing what the children are interested in is so important for learning, and that is one of Reggio Emilia's core beliefs.

As we get closer and closer to puppet construction, I'm more and more excited to see our show come to life. I think making the script will be one of my favorite parts of the class!

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The construction of our puppets is going very well so far! We have each made a lot of progress in the past few weeks and I think we’ll be able to finish the puppets relatively soon. Personally, I think my puppet looks a little rough around the edges but is still coming together nicely and should be just fine for our skit. The stitches are a little looser than I would have liked but short of starting over, there is not much I can do to fix that! As seen from the photo above, my puppet is almost completed, which I am very happy about! Right now, I have finished sewing the body together and am almost completely done with the arms/hands. I still need to sew the mouth part (black felt piece) into the head prior to putting the foam and stuffing in and then I will need to add hair, eyes, and other accessories. I am hoping to find some time in the next week to add the finishing touches to the hand and sew the black felt in, as those two tasks should not take too long. Next class (3/12), my goal is to put the foam and stuffing into their respective parts of the puppet. So far, there have been positive things about the puppet construction and a few negative things. In terms of positive aspects of the construction, the actual sewing was much easier than I thought it would be, once I got the hang of it. I have actually enjoyed the past few class periods of sewing and putting the puppet together. The only negative thing is how loose my stitches ended up being, especially since you can see them from the outside of the puppet, but like I said before, I cannot fix it right now. However, it is all part of the learning process, and I can use this struggle/negative aspect as a future teaching moment to potentially relate to my students’ struggles.

For the next class, I hope to get some work done on our script and songs for the puppet show. We have not been able to get any work done on the script so far, except for some surface level discussions of our general ideas. Unfortunately, the past two weeks have been tough for our group in terms of illness, so not everyone was present in class. This makes it difficult to work on the script together and we want to ensure that everyone has a voice in the preparation. All members of the group should have a chance to provide thoughts on the content of the script and the songs we include in the skit, especially because it is a sensitive topic that is personal to two of the group members! Hopefully, throughout the next few classes we can focus solely on the script and make sure it gets done before the deadline. I’m looking forward to working together to come up with that script and creating a fun show!

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Today in class I started officially sewing my puppet, and let me tell you, I did not have an easy time. We started class by doing the usual, replying to our groupmate’s discussion posts and I knew today was going to be the day where I had to start my puppet, especially since I’ve been behind since I was sick last week. I began sewing the body together and I had so many questions, but luckily Ella and Cassidy helped me a lot. I couldn’t even tie the knot on the needle, that's how much I don’t know about sewing. Once I finally tied the knot on the needle and the end of the string, I began sewing and it took awhile to get used to it. I pricked my hand a few times and that definitely hurt. Sewing the body was definitely not that bad since it was just a simple straight line, but then I started to sew the hands and that’s where I ran into the most trouble. My hands weren’t lining up correctly and I found it extremely difficult to sew the fingers of the hands. There were many times where I had to just completely restart due to my thread making a knot on its own. It definitely was extremely frustrating when this happened and I already was super stressed out because I felt behind. I looked at my classmate’s surrounding me and their puppets were almost complete, which made me very anxious. I continued to sew my hands and I finally completed one of them! It was definitely super tough, but now that I have the hang of it, I find sewing very therapeutic. Even when I got home from class today I began sewing my other hand together because I found it super fun and a nice activity to do! Since I got a hang of it during class, I definitely feel like I will continue sewing over spring break. I am going to have so much free time over break since none of my friends will be home, so I will definitely find myself sewing my puppet together. While I was sewing, I was so eager to see what my final puppet would end up looking like. When looking around the classroom, it was so cool to see everyone’s partially finished puppets so it makes me even more excited. A lesson I learned in class today was to NOT GIVE UP. In the beginning, I was so frustrated with myself because I felt like I was unable to sew. Before coming into this class, I had no prior knowledge of how to sew so I felt defeated. Now, after completing a lot during class I now know that I am SO capable of sewing, I just have to put my mind to it. As much as it gets frustrating when you make small mistakes, you just have to push through it and not give up on yourself. Overall, I believe class today was a huge learning experience and a great success!

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This week we really dove into our script. We have been pretty behind schedule these past few weeks, unfortunately. This is because Ava was sick two weeks prior to spring break so she missed class, and then the class afterward I had pink eye and did not want to spread it to the other girls. When we came into class today we were honestly really worried that we would not be able to get caught up and complete our script. We had the basic ideas of what we wanted our story to be about, but not much beyond that. We were worried we may even have to ask for an extension because felt so far behind. However, all these fears ultimately were in vain, because we actually made so much progress today.

Creating our story and our script definitely required a lot of group work and collaboration. We started off by creating our synopsis and just thinking through the timeline and storyline that we wanted our puppet show to follow. After we did this, it was much easier for us to get into actually writing dialogue. It was hard at first to get into writing the script, because it was a new experiance for most members of the group. Ava did have some experiance from a class she took in highschool though which was nice. It took us awhile to nail down our setting and how we wanted the story to flow, just because none of us had ever written a puppet show before. Another one of our struggles was making sure the dialogue was realistic for first graders to be saying, and making sure it didn't sound like college students speaking instead.

Although we did have a few struggles at the beginning and throughout, once we got over the first hump the script really started to flow. The spoken dialogue was mainly written by the other members of my group because I was very focused on writing the songs. I of course chimed in to help with dialogue a bunch, but it was not my main focus today. We decided to rewrite songs from the Nickelodeon show Victorious. Once I knew what show we were taking the songs from I began the selection and rewriting process. I was able to select three different songs from the original show and rewrite them to fit the theme and storyline. I chose "Tell me that you love me" for the first song, and "Freak the freak out" for our second song. I have completely finished rewriting these songs and found the perfect parts of our scripts to implement them into. Then I chose "Make it shine" as our final song, and I am almost completely done rewriting this one. The process of selecting a nd rewriting songs was definitely a challenge, but it was something I did ultimately enjoy. I am overall very proud of my individual work and the work of the group this week! We are basically completely done with the script, I just have to finish up the last song!

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This week was very productive for me and for our group! We started off by responding to each other's reflections like always. I always enjoy doing this, because I get to hear the perspectives of my other group members. It is cool because a lot of times we have a lot of the same ideas and takeaways, but at the same time, I have the opportunity to get new ideas from my group members because we all think differently.

We had finished most of our script the week prior, which was really nice! So this week we just took some time to reflect and go over it. We did this because we wanted to make sure it was perfect, especially because we need to read it in front of the class next week. I think it is looking really good, and I am just really grateful that our group works so well together!

The main thing our group focused on this week was finishing up our puppets. We were all a little bit behind on our puppets because we had been focused on our script the previous week. However, I was able to get a lot done. I stuffed and attached the arms first. I do think I may have attached the backward, but I believe it is all part of the charm. Then I glued the skull into the head. This was one of the hardest parts for me because I was really worried I was going to mess it up. I did have a few struggles because some of my stitches in the neck area started to loosen when I was putting the skull in. However, this issue is easily fixable so I was not too worried about that. Finally, I put the hair on my puppet. It went pretty well, I went with bright pink hair and I think it looks pretty cute! Her hair could definitely use a bit of a trim though.

Now I want to talk about how the puppet process went as a group. I am really lucky that my group is so willing to help each other. Whenever I have any questions Ava, Cassidy, and Ella are always willing to help, and of course, I always am willing to help them in return. We helped each other glue the skulls together and put them into the puppet. We were all pretty confused about this part, but it was nice that we were all in it together! I also got some help with wrapping the hair and applying it to the head which was really helpful! Overall we worked very well together this week, and have made a lot of great progress!

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Week 11 was a very interesting week. We are done with our script which is nice, and are all almost done with our puppets. All I had to do was make glasses for my puppet, get some clothing, and add the sticks to the arms. The rest of the group still needed to put the hair on, which I had already done. It was nice that I had already done it, so I was able to assist the rest of my group. It feels nice to be able to be helpful.

Another thing we had to do this week was read our scripts to the class. This was very nerve-wracking. I am not exactly sure why we were all so nervous because we had the script completely done. I think it is just stressful because you do not know how the rest of the class is going to react and you don't want to be judged. We decided to talk the songs instead of singing them, because for some singing feels much more scary and vulnerable. However, I think it went well and people generally enjoyed it.

This week we learned about how to properly puppeteer. We learned the importance of practicing with the puppet. The first step is to practice lip-syncing. He said that we should open the puppeteers mouth once per syllable, and emphasize certain words. I also learned that lipsyncing methods change based on the speed your puppet is talking. When a puppet is talking faster you probably will hit fewer syllables because otherwise it will look weird and overwhelming.

We also learned about eye focus. The guy in the video talks about keeping the head steady and the eyes focused on who they are talking to or to the audience. I also learned that I need to work on making my puppet look like it is actually on the ground and walking not floating. Something that I never thought about was opening the puppet's mouth as if they were breathing. I think this could make the puppet's behavior much more realistic, so I definitely want to try incorporating this with my puppet. I think I learned a decent amount from the video, but I feel like only time will tell. I am nervous for when we actually start rehearsing and filming but I have faith that it will all work out.

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This past weekend, we had to submit the introduction video of our individual puppets for some practice with talking and moving our puppet around. I thought my video went pretty well – I hit most of the important information about my puppet and I felt like moving it around was relatively easy. It certainly does not feel natural yet, but I am hoping that with more practice, it will start to feel easier! As the “interviewer”, I started by introducing myself, with my name and age, to the puppet, then asking about her name and age. Then I asked my puppet to discuss her family (i.e., who she lives with and what she likes to do with them), as well as her favorite things to do and best parts of school in her opinion. From there, I asked if she had anything else to share about her family or favorite things. I had her explain her parents’ jobs and some other things she enjoys doing with them. I did my best to match her answers to how I would have answered as a first grader, as we are trying to make our puppets’ personalities match our first-grade selves to make the puppet show as personable and realistic as possible. As I mentioned before, I think moving the mouth of the puppet went pretty well, but I feel that there were certain points where I was focusing too much on the information I wanted to include, rather than moving the mouth correctly. After watching the video in class, I will definitely be practicing some of the techniques he discussed and making sure I pay more attention to moving the mouth correctly.

Next week, I will be focused on finishing my puppet by adding hair, bamboo sticks (for the arms), and putting clothes on it! Adding the hair and bamboo sticks should take a short amount of time, so I’m not too concerned about that. I will likely be using old baby doll or American Girl doll clothes for my puppet’s clothing, which I grab from my house! This week, I made sure to check that the stitches in my puppet are secure; after fixing a few minor issues and gaps in the stitching, that was finished. Overall, I think my puppet is turning out really well and I am impressed with what it looks like! I remember being very nervous when we first started, especially about sewing and putting the foam together, but it ended up going just fine! After I make these last-minute additions, I think it will look much better!

Finally, we read our script in front of the class today! It definitely was not as scary as we thought it would be and I think we did a good job. There were a few minor problems (blank spots in the script that we have to fill in) and some random trip-ups, but we certainly thought it went really well! We’ll make those small adjustments and resubmit it, but other than that, our script is finished. We’re going to discuss props and backgrounds in the next few weeks!

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Update on our puppets! Since my last post, we have written the entire script, our platform papers, and are almost done puppet construction.

Our script took an entire class to create, but I’m really happy with it. We wanted each character to be authentic and react in ways a normal 1st grader would to a disability they had never encountered. We all felt that a 1st grader would not intentionally bully another (in most cases), but instead would approach the situation with confusion or misunderstanding. That’s why we set the situations up in a way where the puppets are all asking questions and the puppet (mine) with a disability is open to answering them to better her school experience. My favorite part of the script is when Mary Grace’s puppet asks why mine can’t just use glasses to fix her eyes. I think that targets a pretty common misconception that younger kids might have and gives a chance for my puppet to more fully explain what it means to be low-vision.

The experience writing our platform papers forced me to think critically about where I stand with my pedagogy. I do like most of the approaches that we discuss in this class, but I didn’t realize before I started writing how passionate I am about anti-bias and anti-racist education. Throughout my college career, I think I’ve talked about AB/AR education in 15 different classes. But, this past semester is when I truly began to understand the implications of it or lack thereof in an early or elementary classroom. I found a lot of my beliefs and where they stem from through writing the platform paper, and I’m very interested to see how my thoughts change and develop as I write the second half of it.

Our puppet construction is almost complete! Ava brought in American Girl Doll clothes for each of us, and Ava and Ella are adding hair today. Once I add my eyes, I think my puppet will feel put together. The last idea I have for my puppet is finding a stick (probably outside) to paint white and red to look like a cane for people with vision support needs. I’m excited about the prospect of making her represent accommodations that many other students have or may need. I’m definitely proud of how my sewing and crafting skills have developed through this process, and I can see this puppet being a mascot in my future classroom. I think our puppet show is going to be so cute!

This week we discusses the importance of art media in ECE settings. I thought this was very relevant because of all the artistic things we are doing in this class. I love when classes let us practice what we are going to be encouraging our own students to be doing. This also happened in my CI295 class, which Ava also discussed in her reading response. We talked about loose parts, which we then brought to seminar and made something based on the materials. Hands-on is the best way to learn in my opinion and I love experiencing a potential teaching method to make sure I enjoy it before presenting it to students.

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Today we recorded our puppet show!!! I feel like today really showed the culmination of all of our efforts in this class. I've grown to love this group so much and I'm so proud of us!

For me personally, recording this puppet show was very out of my comfort zone. It was difficult to focus on lip-syncing the words, saying/singing the words, and making my puppet look alive and comfortable all at once. I work with puppeteers at Sesame Place, and I’ve always been in awe of their work, but this class put their talent into perspective. Not only is their skill apparent, but I have no idea how they hold their arms up that long! Because we filmed in segments, it's hard to imagine how the final product is going to look, but I’m so excited for it. It seemed that everyone in Krauss Studio was filming their puppet show, and it was nice to have that comradery and know that we may be embarrassed, but everyone else is too. WE shared tips like how to angle our camera and screen share on the TVs and got to listen to each other sing through the walls. It was truly a judgement-free zone which I’m very thankful for.

Through the process of making our puppets, I’ve been asking myself (while my friends and family asked me!) what the point of this class was. I know that we discussed briefly when reading Valente at the beginning of the semester, but I think I needed to experience for myself what he meant. There is no way we can expect our students to learn something new and put themselves fully in the learning process if we don’t do the same. I haven’t learned a completely new skill in such a long time, but in early and elementary education, basically everything is a completely new skill. Learning to take a step back and grant myself patience was very valuable during this class, and I think will be very valuable to my future students. And, feeling the pressure of participation and the social stresses of this type of learning really put me in the shoes of students that are asked to give so much in the classroom. I strongly believe that in order to expect participation, motivation, and enjoyment from our students, we need to model it from the very first day. This class helped foster my empathy for my students, and really motivated me to create safe, open-ended space for learning.

I’m super grateful for my groupmates through this process. They added to a lot of my ideas from the readings, helped gather supplies, and their creativity and ingenuity really made our puppet show shine. I think you can tell that we cared a lot about the representation that we chose to center our puppet show around. We have created a space full of respect and kindness, and it’s definitely the closest I’ve ever gotten to a group for a project. I think our puppet show will be amazing because we were all so enthusiastic about this process, even when things got tough. I knew I could always rely on them for help or encouragement, and I hope they felt the same.

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Today, we met as a group and filmed our puppet show! Although there were some minor setbacks while filming, the video turned out really well and I’m (somewhat) excited to have it shown in class next week.

Before we started filming, we had to go through some basic setup and nail down a few final details for our show. First, we had to find different backgrounds for the two “settings” of our puppet show, which was relatively quick and easy. We used cartoon backgrounds because Cassidy pointed out that these were puppets and it seemed to make more sense to use a cartoon scene. After picking out the backgrounds, we moved on to listening to the three songs we were using for the show. When we read the script for the class last week, we ended up not doing the songs, so we wanted to make sure we ran through them a few times before filming. It took us a few trials to actually get the rhythms, tunes, and our lyrics correct but after some practice, they sounded awesome! Next, we had to physically set up the room we had booked to make sure the background was visible, and our puppets fit well in the video frame. Interestingly enough, this was the most difficult part of the filming process, especially since we ended up with the smallest room with the smallest screen for the backgrounds! We ended up having to prop the phone up onto someone’s computer and holding our arms completely straight when working with the puppets.

Once we were finished preparing the room and camera, we rehearsed the script all the way through. After the first rehearsal, however, we figured out that it would be a lot easier to film the scenes separately and edit them together later! It gave us some more freedom and additional time to prepare for the various scenes, especially the songs. One of our songs jumped right into lyrics, which was really difficult when we tried to go straight from speaking to the song. Luckily, Ava mentioned that she took a few video production classes in high school and was happy to edit the videos together for the group, which was amazing! We ended up rehearsing the entire show one more time before starting to film. As I mentioned before, we filmed our scenes separately, which allowed the filming process to go much smoother. Throughout the entire process, we only had to retake two videos, due to some minor issues with music or something not looking right! After we finished filming, Ava was able to crop the videos and piece them together, and the final product looked great!

I think we worked really well together as a group this semester and our final video ended up being a great representation of our hard work! I was really nervous in the beginning of the semester when we discussed the puppet shows and what they would entail, but I’m really surprised at how much I actually enjoyed the project. Overall, I think it definitely helped me grow as a person, student, and future teacher and I would actually recommend the class to other students!

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This was such an interesting week! Today we filmed our final puppet show, and it was definitely a new experiance. I have never filmed a puppet show before, and absolutely have never done it for a class before. However, it made me feel better that none of my group members had done it before either, so it felt like we were all in the same boat. I was really nervous to get started, especially because we filmed in a public and non-sound-proof room, but I do think it all ended up working out well.

Here is how the day went. We arrived in the orange room in Krause at our normal class start time, 11:15. We took about thirty minutes to set up the room how we wanted and run through our script. We used the TV as our background and used Cassidy's phone to film. We also used Ava's computer to read the script, and I played the music off of my phone. We then all got situated on the floor and began practicing our puppet show.

We decided it was important to run through our lines and the songs a few times before we actually started filming. This was a great idea because the first few times were definitely a little rough. We would stumble over our words and get offbeat during the songs. However, after some quick practice, we were able to get the hang of it. Once we actually started filming I think it went pretty well. We were able to do most of it without issue, and I think the songs actually sound pretty good. It also did take some practice to get a hang of manipulating the puppet and figuring out how to make it look as realistic. It definitely did not end uo being perfect, but I did not except it ro because we of course are not professional puppeteers. However, I know that we did our best, and I think it turned out pretty well.

It is important to note that we did not do the whole puppet show in one take. We decided to cut before each song so that if we messed up, we could easily redo it without having to redo the entire show from the beginning. I think this was a really great idea because it allowed us to perfect each individual scene instead of having to settle for something mediocre. I also think it allowed us to finish much faster, instead of having to be there for multiple hours which was nice. Ava was super kind and actually volunteered to edit the clips together. This was so thoughtful and kind of her, and I completely trusted her because she actually as a background in editing. She already finished it and it looks great! I was really impressed with how prompt and on top of it she was.

Overall, I love how our show turned out, and I am so grateful for this group and this experiance. I cannot wait to show everyone our masterpiece, and get the opportunity to see everyone else's hard work!

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Today, on Tuesday April 16, we met as a group in Chambers Building to record our puppet video! We had the orange room in Krauss booked for our normal class time, so the four of us met in Chambers at 11:15. Going into it, I thought recording our video was going to be quick and easy, but we all slowly realized that it was going to take a bit more time than we were expecting. When we first got there, we ran through our script multiple times so that we could get used to not only singing and speaking, but also maneuvering our puppets at the same time. We rehearsed the songs as well and this was super fun, and I am sure that the people outside of the rooms were looking at us like we were crazy! After we got our script down, we began thinking about how we could set up the room so that we could record and this is what I feel took us the most amount of time. We were unsure of where to put our phone so that you could not see us, but you could still see the tv in the background with our playground picture. It took multiple tries to figure it out, and we even had to ask other groups how they were doing this. This was definitely a trial and error process, originally we had found a stand outside of our room, but when we placed Cassidy’s phone on it the angle was super weird and would not work. We then considered taping Cassidy’s phone to a computer, but this just seemed like it wasn’t going to work. Finally, we placed Cassidy’s phone against a computer and we put it on one of the chairs and this is what ultimately ended up working.

We then began to shoot our video and we definitely all messed up a few times, because this is not easy! I think this was something I had to wrap my brain around for sure, but being comfortable singing and even talking using a puppet is not something that just comes natural. After a few mess ups, we decided to “chunk” our script and focus on one part then stop the video, then record the next part, and then we were just going to put the clips together at the end! This ended up working perfectly and we got our recording done in no time! Honestly, this project was a huge bonding experience. Obviously me, Mary Grace, Ella, and Cassidy have never met each other before, but coming to class each day and working together brought us all super close. I am definitely thankful for this project because now I have some new friends and familiar faces in some of my other education classes.

When I got home from recording our video, I told my group members that I could put the clips together because in high school I took 3 video production courses that I loved. I used a website called “WeVideo” because we used this all the time in high school and I was comfortable using it. It took me about 30 minutes to complete this because I was messing around with transitions and final edits, but finally the project was finished and we as a group can say we are so proud of our efforts!

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Today in class, I finally finished creating my puppet, and I was so relieved. In this padlet post, I want to talk about my full journey in sewing my fabulous puppet! So today, I knew it was the last week that we could finish our puppet so I was very stressed. I sewed my arms on first, and this was something I definitely struggled with. My knot kept breaking, so I was extremely frustrated with myself. Finally after three tries, my puppet’s first arm was attached! After sewing the first one on, I did the second one super quickly so I was very happy. After I did the arms, it was time to put on her luscious pink locks! I took the cardboard piece and wrapped the yarn around it multiple times because I wanted to make sure her hair was super thick and not like straw. Honestly, the hair was super easy to put on, but I had a few difficulties hot gluing it down correctly. After that was done, I knew I wanted to accessorize her hair with a black bow to match her black and gray cheetah dress, so I used black ribbon to create the bow. I then tied her hair into a half up half down hairdo and then hot glued the bow on! Then, all I had to do was quickly hot glue her eyes on and this was super easy. My puppet was finally complete. The amount of relief that I felt in that moment I think I will remember for a very long time. I have had such a hard time in this class because my sewing skills are not great. I was super concerned that I was never going to be able to complete my puppet and now that it is done, I couldn’t be more happy with the final product. Although there are definitely a few mistakes in my stitching, I am very pleased with myself and my puppet. Not only did this class teach me how to sew, but it taught me great patience and determination. There were so many times  throughout this process where I just wanted to give up, even though I knew I couldn’t, I wanted to. I have never sewed before so I always found myself stabbing my finger and messing up the stitching. I believe that I was more anxious about this puppet than any of my other school work, but I couldn’t be more proud of myself and my groupmates.

I want to reflect back to the first few weeks where everyone in class was doing their sewing, but I waited as long as I could because I had no idea what I was doing. I’d call my mom freaking out so many times, but she knew that I was fully capable of doing this. Looking back now that my puppet is complete, I believe this class taught me so many valuable lessons. I was very confused in the beginning what this class would teach me, but now I know and I couldn’t be more grateful that I took this class, and with the BEST professor.

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To finish out my Padlet posts, I wanted to discuss the formation of my platform paper. I feel like, as with everything in this class, it was truly a group effort - from the replies left on my discussion posts to reading my groupmates’ thoughts and ideas to peer-reviewing each other on the final assignment. My ideas came together because of the collaborative environment that we created, and I felt a lot more comfortable sharing because of that. I learned a lot and thought about different perspectives because of each of their lenses that they viewed pedagogy through.

We all agreed on so many ideas that were presented to us in the class. We learned about entire systems of learning like Reggio Emilia and Montessori schools as well as activities like loose parts and clay-making. The variety of readings and conversations really made for an easy search when finding articles and ideas to use in my paper. I also appreciated that we read about the theoretical foundations of our own class, ECE 451, and Julie shared her pedagogy, which made it easier to see what on-paper ideas could manifest as in practice. Relational practices were evident as quite literally everything we accomplished in this class was because of the group work.

Writing my platform paper was initially extremely daunting. Not only was I supposed to write a 5-8 page paper, but it had to be on pedagogy I felt confident enough in to share with principals and school districts during my job search after college. I struggle with procrastination, especially the more important the project is, so I started my first paper basically right before the due date. Quite honestly, I was afraid to choose anti-bias education as the basis of my pedagogy because of how contested it is. However, I was distinctly more passionate about it than any other topic we had discussed so far, and I knew I wouldn’t have been able to write a paper half as good about anything else.

I’m a part of Gender and Sexual Diversity in Schreyer (as a resident of the building, not a member of the Honors College), and a few days before I sat down to write my paper, we had an alumni speaker join our meeting. Someone had asked, “If you were to write a resume now, would you include your LGBTQ+ volunteering and activism?” I remember clearly that he said yes, because “If they have a problem with it, it’s not a company that you want to work for in the long run anyway.” That really inspired me to not only write my foundation about anti-bias and anti-racist education, but also include my personal story as a measure of my dedication to said pedagogy.

For the second half of my paper, I used a lot of social justice ideas from articles in class and included child-led learning as a foundation, because that really is what leads an anti-bias and anti-racist classroom. Attached is a picture of me working on the paper on Sunday, thankful that the due date was moved because of my aforementioned procrastination.