With class out of session, it’d be easy to assume that our education team (the staff members at the Foundation that work to create, pilot, and implement our educational programs into area schools) might be enjoying a nice, relaxing summer break. And while summers DO bring with them opportunities for rest, our education team is still hard at work preparing for the next school year. In this blog, we discuss with Stephanie Becher, Lead Education Manager, what summer looks like for her and the rest of the ed team.
Most people, I think, would have a basic understanding of what the Education team does. Creates educational programming and content and implements it during the school year. Are there any aspects of the education team’s work that you feel go unknown?
Though the education team implements programming during the school year, our work actually ramps up in the summer with camps for incoming puppeteers, attending and speaking at education conferences, re-filming content and curriculum revision and development.
How does the revision process for programming work?
Through the spring and summer, the ed team reviews the student and teacher evaluations from the year, and based on their feedback, revises the curriculum. Additionally, the language surrounding disabilities, mental health, and family diversity constantly changes, and our work includes staying up-to-date with the changes. We continually check in with community partners and speakers with the lived experiences to ensure our curriculum accurately representative.
Sometimes, evaluations and communication with school partners indicate that there’s a real need for a topic to be discussed. For example, we’ve consistently presented Autism Spectrum Disorder in eighth grade, but have recently added more information about it also in third grade because teachers expressed the need to introduce the disability to younger grades. Same goes with ADHD.
Can you talk a little bit about puppet camps during the summer?
The summer highlights our “kids teaching kids” concept. Over the summer, we train incoming seventh and eighth grade students not only how to become a puppeteer but how to essentially become an ambassador for the Foundation.
For those who don’t know, our puppet troupes introduce the grade-level Disability Awareness themes through a puppet show, which highlights a specific disability. This summer, we have three camps for three full days, and train students from five local schools. At camp, puppeteers do a deep dive into the disabilities that they will portray through the puppets. Speakers with the disabilities come in to present their lived experiences so that the puppeteers not only can accurately portray a puppet with the disability, but they can answer the students’ questions after the show concludes. This is the most powerful part of the show — allowing students to be curious and ask everything they are wondering about in a safe, caring environment. Students often ask questions to the puppet that wouldn’t feel comfortable asking a real, live person, and opens the door for more discussion, which ultimately works to take away any stigma or fear surrounding disabilities.
What are some of the challenges for the education team transitioning to work during the summer? What exciting opportunities does it give you?
Summer is tricky because most of the ed team has children of their own who are home or juggling their own camps. It’s also an energizing time to generate new and exciting ideas, prepare the next generation of puppeteers, and plan with administrators for next year’s programming. Summer gives us time to reflect and to re-imagine our curriculum and processes, and get a head start on mapping out the new school year.
Do you have any big exciting goals or upcoming projects for this summer?
Always! In addition to revising some of the curriculum, we are filming some new speakers and read-alouds for our Disability Awareness program.
The summer brings with it plenty of challenges and opportunities, and we here at Joseph Maley Foundation are excited to be hard at work for the next school year. If you’re interested in learning more about the work that Stephanie and the rest of the education team do, check out our website to learn more. A special thank you to Stephanie for answering our questions for this blog!