My Life as a Furry Red Monster - Kevin Clash [55]
“Armand, Kevin, I just wanted to tell you how very much I enjoyed your presentation. You really held everyone’s attention. It was excellent.”
We would find out just how excellent she thought it was when we were told that we’d been selected to present the report to an all-school assembly along with students who’d done the best reports in other classes. A few weeks later, Armand and I stood in front of the entire student body to do our presentation for a second time. But I didn’t view it as simply repeating our report in front of more students. It was an encore performance, in front of an audience who reacted with genuine laughter and applause. Even though I was still young, I could tell that their response was the real thing. As a result of this presentation, I got my first real media coverage. I was written up in the local paper (the now-defunct News-American) and made the cover of their insert magazine, Young World.
That experience had a profoundly positive impact on me. I enjoyed school, but I was hardly a stand-out student. Early on, I’d never been that interested in reading and struggled with it. For me to do the research on a project was never easy, mostly because I lacked the desire to learn about a place like Russia. What did that have to do with me in Turner’s Station? Adding the creative element to the assignment sparked my interest and got me excited about what I had to do. From then on, I tried to find a way to incorporate my interests into my schoolwork. Similarly, I got interested in reading because it was a way to learn about one of my favorite subjects—television. You already know that I treated TV Guide like a favorite comic book, but I also was drawn to magazines like People, where I would pore over longer articles and profiles of my favorite stars. It wasn’t Shakespeare, but it got me reading.
That a reluctant reader and sometimes unmotivated learner wound up making a career of teaching children through a landmark educational television program isn’t ironic; it’s absolutely fitting and right.
WHEN WE TAKE the time to be creative in our teaching, chances are that we’ll be more successful in engaging a child’s mind. On Sesame Street and “Elmo’s World,” we strive to make that effort, with specific educational goals in mind. But before the writers ever put pen to paper or a Muppeteer gives life to a character, many decisions must be made about the direction a particular season, episode, or scene will take. Everything begins with the curriculum.
Dr. Rosemarie Truglio, who is in charge of research and education for the show, heads a staff of professional educators who establish a set of curriculum goals for a season. For example, they decided for the 2005 season, our thirty-sixth, to focus on health. The educational staff consulted with experts on nutritional, physical, and mental health needs of children. (Perhaps you saw the “exercise moment” with Elmo on PBS, where he urges young viewers to get up and “move your body”—that’s part of this initiative.) Once Rosemarie and her team completed their initial research, they convened a meeting of the show’s writers, headed by Lou Berger, and producers, led by executive producer Carol-Lynn Parente, to explore how best to execute their goals.
The first step this group takes is a general discussion of what preschoolers today are like. After all, kids have changed over the years, and Sesame Street is constantly evolving to meet their changing needs and interests. Once the curriculum goals are established for the season, they are broken down into lessons that can be introduced show by show and then scene by scene.
As performers and writers, our first instincts are to go with what we believe will be the most entertaining way to get a message across. Once the scripts are developed, Rosemarie and her staff review them and suggest changes to make sure that the curricular objectives are clearly and explicitly expressed, that the show is age appropriate and safe. We know kids imitate what they see on