Puppet show in 8th grade!

Yesterday I observed a puppet show extravaganza presented by Alina's 8th graders based on a chapter of The Island. The kids brought lots of props and you could tell how the activity had compelled their imagination. This kind of activity really taps on their creative reservoir and motivates them to give a different kind of life to the story they've been reading.

I'd like to stress the importance of taking risks when dealing with a literary text. In the implementation of the idea, the kids found different unexpected challenges, such as building the appropriate setting -they used cardboard boxes- and constructing the character figures -they used tin soldiers, little plastic dolls, added miniature ships and even included weather changes that had an impact on the plot. They had prepared the script in class together and had to agree on who was which character for the performance. There were, of course, some aspects that Alina and I discussed could be improved on a subsequent presentation, such as rehearsal sessions, a bigger setting already made that would allow them to focus on the characters and action instead. We also talked about the idea of preparing a full text performance that could be presented to younger students.

Above and beyond the difficulties encountered, I appreciate Alina's willingness to take risks with creative projects for the class. It made me think that once we implement an idea, we come across different challenges that need our attention. Meanwhile, both our students and we have learned quite a bit in the process. Without taking risks, we hardly ever reach a breakthrough in our practice.