Published: May 22, 2008 12:46 pm      

Puppet shows teach lessons

BY ADELE VOCCO

MOUNT ALOYSIUS COLLEGE STUDENT

Students in Sara Rutledge’s applied learning strategies for the exceptional learner responded beyond expectation to Cathy Kist and her request for participation in the Pennsylvania Association for Individuals with Disabilities (PAID) youth ambassador program.

I am a junior at Mount Aloysius College in the elementary/early childhood program and was one of those students.

Kist came to class and presented information concerning what PAID does and how it benefits individuals with disabilities.

She invited the students to be involved in the new program – a youth ambassador program (YAP).

Students would go to Mount Aloysius College’s Little People’s Place, a preschool program, and also present puppet shows to the children at neighboring elementary schools in order to teach them about persons with disabilities.

The class discussed with Rutledge its willingness to do the puppet shows and to have this project be part of their final grades.

Students made puppets by hand.

Some used puppets from a different pre-school setting, and others made puppets from a story that was read to the pre-school children.

The students laminated the characters from the story and used those for puppets.

They also researched specific disabilities and wrote scripts about persons with disabilities to accompany the puppets.

The puppets were near completion when someone remarked that the students didn’t have a stage to use to present shows to the preschoolers.

I sat in class quietly and thought to myself, “My son Brandon is a very gifted and talented young man, and my husband, James, is smart when it comes to construction. Maybe they can help.”

I decided to text my husband during class to see if we could make the puppet stage that weekend. He agreed.

We spent the entire weekend working on the stage and it was completed in time for the first puppet show.

Students presented the puppet shows to the class before taking them to the preschool.

All the shows were entertaining and educational.

During the last day of class, Kist presented students with certificates.

The students are now the founders of the youth ambassador program.

The students’ names will appear in PAID’s newsletter and they can put this information in our portfolios.

The participants in the puppet shows were Adele Vocco (maker of the puppet stage), Deanna Biles, Jessica Cunningham, Adam DePiro, Renamarie Drenning, Van Duncan, Kayla Fisher, Megan Gibson, Donna Kauffman, Kathryn Kuskoski, Richard Leahey, Christine Lestochi, Casey May, Richelle Sandford, Rhiannon Sheridan and Melissa Shastay.