Marty Sewall

A good friend and excellent teacher is retiring this year. We all will miss her as she retires, but the kids will be without a true jewel in the teaching profession. If there was anyone with all talents to make a good teacher, Mrs. Sewall has it all! Today, I had the privilege of watching her "student made" puppet shows.
She assigned her students a group project to write their own puppet show theater. She based the assignment on the story, The Little Red Hen, which teaches the lesson about the value of helping others. Next, they read Gator Gumbo, as Marty says, "about an old 'alligatah' who makes gumbo and everyone makes fun of him and even says 'Nana-nana-boo-boo'". No one wants to help until it comes time to eat the gumbo. For a third example they read Manana, Iguana where again, no one wants to help until 'manana' (tomorrow)! Finally they compared Armadilly Chili, in which the help only comes to Armadilly after he makes the chili and it is ready to eat!
The kids rewrote these stories based on the similar plots. They had to include an protagonist, (who wants to work), three antagonists, (who don't want to work) and a narrator who remains "first person omniscient".
I thought it appropriate that the theme of the puppet shows was all about helping others. Just think how many kids Mrs. Sewall has helped along the way in her years (36?) of teaching. What about those lucky enough to work side by side with her? Her inspiration and creativity will live on through the teachers and students that have been lucky enough to have her in their lives!
Thanks, Mrs. Sewall, we will miss you!!