1. How did your team conceive your project? We started by showing our students a variety of videos featuring different styles of puppetry. Then we talked with them about what goes into each form in terms of design, materials, and performance expectations. Then we talked about what could be done with the puppets once completed. Then we asked our students what they wanted to do and they decided they wanted to learn to make a Muppet.

2. How was inquiry introduced to students and how did you integrate the inquiry process into your project? It began with the videos. We introduce the idea of puppetry to our students and let them ask questions. Once we had a form, we taught each phase of the project and let them explore each technique as we went. Choosing the fur was the most fun, but learning to pattern then sew and seeing how flat shapes were reassembled into 3 dimensional object was exciting and this phase was not truly able to be understood until it materialized. Also, I think storytelling was a major component of this class. Sharing our personal stories while we worked opened the door to discuss so many topics and allowed us to all learn about each other as individuals. I believe this class brought us all together as people and really afforded us a chance to learn about who we all are beyond the surface.

3. How did your team’s project change? It has actually not changed very much. As this is a long term build we have been consistently working away at the construction process, with our first end goal being a completed puppet, and then our secondary one being exploring performances techniques.

4. What did you learn about your students and how they learn? This is hard to answer as each student in our class is unique and learns in thier own way. We spent time with each student in class and as we discovered thier communicationnstyles and needes did our best to find words/techniques/and examples that worked for each of them.

However in a more general way a large part of our time was spent hand sewing. So after we all learned the technique it was basically the same action again and again. This allowed us to all simply sit and talk. Out students brought up all manner of things that are important to their lives. Topics such as pop culture, school, family dynamics, sexual identity, social interaction with peers, dating, hobbies, the pandemic, and current political issues were only some of the topics our we all discussed. Class is a special time/space where we could all express ourselves, share stories, and learn from each other’s ideas and experiences.

5. What did you learn about the way you teach? This was fascinating. This project is very technical and precises. We have had a total of 6 students across the whole year and each of them learn and struggle in different ways. As partners we learned how to work together to help our students reach their goals. Kat often led the instruction on technique which would sometimes be quite challenging and frustrating to the students. Often when they struggle Bettie was able to reword Kat’s ideas in a different way to present the same information from a different angel. We also relied a lot on physical examples and one on one work to help teach the process. The best part was experiencing the pride our students felt when they completed a difficult part of the puppet. Each of them made a puppet of their own and they will always have it as a representation of their work.

6. How did the pandemic affect your class? It did not. We wore our masks and were mindful of social distancing but that was not hard to do and all are students are hard core. We learned, talked, created, and laughed.