PRINCESS SMARTYPANTS (BABETTE COLE)

Princess Smartypants is an example of a children’s picture book which uses gender reversal to tell a story that would never really happen. What if women of high socio-economic status could choose their own marriage/non-marriage partners?

Princess Smartypants has been talked about quite a bit by children’s literature critics, though I personally feel it’s not as successful as it looks at first glance. It’s still notably, however, as an early example of reversal as a way of highlighting inequality.

Types of Archetypal Journeys

Heroes in stories will set out to accomplish one of the following 10 things. Here, of course, we have a story about number five:

1. The quest for identity

2. The epic journey to find the promised land/to found the good city

3. The quest for vengeance

4. The warrior’s journey to save his people

5. The search for love (to rescue the princess/damsel in distress)

6. The journey in search of knowledge

7. The tragic quest: penance or self-denial

8. The fool’s errand

9. The quest to rid the land of danger

10. The grail quest (the quest for human perfection)

Babette Cole subverts the reader’s expectation that the prince and princess will end up married. These days it doesn’t seem such a radical story at all, but that’s only because we’ve seen it before.

Not only that, but the scene in which the prince is made to go shopping with the Queen mother shows him humiliated, not just because of his crawling position, but because he is in the lingerie department, weighed down by a load of female undergarments. It’s impossible to view this scene as humbling without also acknowledging at some level that female undergarments are inherently funny and shameful.

However, back in the mid 1980s when Princess Smartypants was published, the world was seeing feminist inversions of classic tales for the first time.

WEAKNESS/NEED

Princess Smartypants has been born into a life with a rigid path; she must marry into royalty (and produce heirs).

DESIRE

However, she doesn’t want that life. She wants to remain single and buck conventional gender roles.

OPPONENT

The parents, who represent the entire culture of marital expectations

PLAN

She’ll vet some suitors, but she’ll set such enormous tasks that there’s no way they’ll be able to accomplish them.

BATTLE

The battle scenes comprise a large proportion of a picturebook, and sure enough the princes are put through a series of tasks which involve her scary pets or scary rides.

But ultimately, Princes Swashbuckle is able to accomplish all of these tasks. Princess Smartypants has lost the battle.

SELF-REVELATION

Except Prince Swashbuckle is not interested in her.

A ‘swashbuckler’ is an idealistic hero archetype. He rescues damsels in distress, defends the downtrodden, and in general saves the day

NEW EQUILIBRIUM

PERFORMING A PLAY WITH CHILDREN

It has been acknowledged that there is a strong link between play and learning for young children, especially in the areas of problem solving, language acquisition, literacy, numeracy and social, physical, and emotional skills. Young children actively explore their environment and the world around them through learning-based play. Play is a vital part of a child’s optimal social, cognitive, physical and emotional development.Researchers agree that play provides a strong foundation for intellectual growth, creativity, problem-solving and basic academic knowledge.

As children learn through purposeful, quality play experience, they build critical basic skills for cognitive development and academic achievement. These include verbalization, language comprehension, vocabulary, imagination, questioning, problem-solving, observation, empathy, co-operation skills and the perspectives of others.

Through play, children learn a set of skills: social skills, creativity, hand-eye coordination, problem solving and imagination. It is argued that these skills are better learned through play than through flashcards or academic drills.

USING STORYBOOKS: READING OR TELLING STORIES?

Both reading and telling are great ways to communicate stories to children but the differences between the two are quite considerable for both the parent/teacher and the children listening.

When reading stories, the reader must always be focused on the printed words while occasionally looking at the audience.

In contrast, telling a story gives the teller freedom to speak directly to the children, remaining in eye contact while having the opportunity to watch for their reactions to the story.

It is the teller who makes the story come to life through the sound of their voice and personality combined.

The storytelling becomes almost a personal experience for all involved.

However, an experienced teller can learn any story and make it their own (and reading and practicing the tips and hints in the free storytelling technique course will set you on the right path).

The beginner may feel more comfortable with a traditional well-known story like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or Little Red Riding Hood.

Personal stories however, usually hold the greatest interest for a teller and have the potential to produce the inner most enthusiasm while reciting remembered events – plus: The audience will enjoy the story just as much as the teller enjoys telling it.

Some people are natural born storytellers, but anyone who is willing to practice and devote time and study can become a good one.

In order to become a great children's storyteller, there are various skills you master and attributes you must gain.

There are certain characteristics that a natural storyteller may possess that gives them an advantage.

A creative imagination and a flair for drama will help bring a story to life so the children will be able to visualize in their own minds the characters and setting of the story.

It is also better to be prepared for the sometimes-unexpected tidbits the children will want to add to the story themselves.  Including their ideas and engaging with the audience will truly make for a successful storytelling session.

There is clearly more to telling children’s stories than one at first thinks and indeed the same can be said of reading stories, but you have to start, somewhere right?

PUPPETRY

The Benefits of Puppets in Class

1. Design Thinking

Your students can build puppets. With a thoughtful approach to building a puppet, they can design their ultimate learning partner.

2. Growth Mindset

Puppet creation requires making mistakes. Your first puppet will always be very, very special. Students learn fairly quickly that what they see in their mind is not the same as what they can make with their hands.  Mistakes in puppet making allow kids to fail in a very low-risk way. They get a practical lesson in imperfection. They also get a lesson in following directions. Some students cut a hole, rather than a straight line, for their mouth. Helping them fix their mistakes reinforces the establishment of a grown mindset 

3. Puppet as Co-Teacher

When you make a video to introduce a topic, use a puppet. The attention that your students pay is different. Enjoy letting the puppet kick off a lesson, and then help in the room.

4. Writing With a Puppet

When students write plays, foremost in many of their minds is how they will look, how they will sound, and how others will respond to them. Writing for the puppet allows them to be far more silly, as well as take risks with accents, characters, and plots that they wouldn't try if they were required to act it out live. Not only does it help them learn the content as well as writing skills and dialogue formatting, but they also learn important lessons in collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity.

5. Making Learning Less Threatening

We take risks all the time in learning -- and sharing out is the worst. Using a puppet transforms getting caught in the headlights into shining in the spotlight. Students share with less risk, and the puppet makes the situation a lot more like a performance.

Building Puppets to Transform Your Teaching Life

Puppet making may seem difficult, but many puppet makers show their entire process through YouTube videos. We couldn’t find a pattern that was scalable for an entire class, so we made our own and created instructional videos that we use in class and in workshops. A basic Muppet-inspired hand puppet doesn't require sophisticated sewing or crafting skills, either. Even sixth grade students learn how to sew a seam and use a hot glue gun fairly quickly.

However, there are things we do to speed up the process. Students begin with a design and a color choice. Before the next class period, we cut the fleece into the pattern. Then, with help from our instructional videos, students walk through the process at their own speed. With younger students, we tend to control the resources, because left unattended, a 12-year-old will cut a circle out of the center of a piece of felt and throw the rest of the sheet away. So we're in charge the fabric and felt scissors.

To speed up the process, we have also pre-cut cardboard for mouths, tear strips of duct tape for thumb and finger loops to work the jaws, and pre-cut felt for the mouth interior. The goal is that students focus on the actual process of building and designing the puppet rather than cutting perfect half-circles and measuring correctly.

That being said, making mistakes is essential to this process. The first time we taught students how to make puppets, we had never made puppets either. Learning with your students lets them see you as a fellow learner, rather as a didactic answer machine. Not knowing the answer to something teaches students how to find their own answers, which is useful for the rest of their life.

MAKING BOOKS

We have dedicated the class to making books. There are many ideas to make: drop-down books, pop-ups, cut-outs, with illustrations ... I have chosen one with textures, sticking different materials so that the children interacts more closely with the book and with the story that is being told to him.

 I have adapted the fable of "the fox and the grapes". It's short, it's simple, it's eye-catching and it's suitable for all ages of early childhood education. Without a doubt, I think it has been a good idea to adapt this story.

BEFORE STORY ACTIVITIES

THE RAINBOW FISH

A.   With the drawing of a fish, we have to stick coloured little pieces of paper (as scales) all over the fish

B.    Try counting the rainbow fish scales. How many are there?

FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS

A.   Counting 5 to 5 (5, 10, 15, 20…)

B.   Think about words with the letter M, and then, animals with M

C.   What a monkey does? What a monkey eats? Where a monkey lives?

A BIG LESSON FROM A LITTLE FROG

A.   What do you think the frog is going to tell?

B.   Do you know how It’s called a “baby frog”?

C.   Can you jump like a frog?

THE LION AND THE MOUSE

A.    Give examples of opposites, big and small

B.   Give examples of animals that lives in the jungle

THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE

A.   What do you think is going to happen in the story?