“Yo Yo Yo,” said Charlie McCarthy!

I guarantee someone out there is twitching their eyebrow at that title. I know mine is (with laughter).

There are certain things that friends learn about from a growing friend, and one of those things that my friends learn early on about me is my love for ventriloquism. Charlie McCarthy is an incredibly famous dummy and character from I believe the ‘50s, and I just love his character. I will admit that I have begun shopping for Charlies online and have been successful (but without the financial means to buy him yet. Oh shucks) Oh, and please note that that previous sentence does not say my TALENT for ventriloquism; I have not yet had the opportunity to pick up a dummy and begin practicing with it, so I am literally physically clueless about how to begin. However, I do enjoy seeing ventriloquist shows and grow incredibly fascinated with their talents.

I was randomly thinking about the research I had done about whether or not rap lyrics would be an effective tool in the classroom and whether or not it led to a good form of pedagogy. So of course I began expanding my thoughts and tried to think of other random tools that could be used in the classroom. I’m sure you understand where this is going. I cannot BEGIN to explain how my mind jumped from rap lyrics to ventriloquism – it’s probably in some rare category of psychology that I have not yet explored – but nonetheless, my mind got there. How crazy, funny and effective could it be to become a practiced ventriloquist and bring the dummy into the classroom, provided that I knew no one was struck with the crazy I’m-scared-of-clowns-and-any-other-form-of-dummy syndrome and that the dummy somehow tied in with what I was teaching?

Some wacky part of me that loves to take these types of risk and step out onto an outside boundary where anything can happen and a new side of an individual can be touched really believes that this use of a dummy could be highly effective. For example, I know that if one of my teachers had chosen to bring in a dummy and was effective with their ventriloquism, I would have been the most attentive student that day because of my love for ventriloquism. But what if the jokes were effective, the costume of the dummy fitting, its personality formal to the topic we were portraying and it somehow all just fell into sync? To come up with a crazy example, what if I dressed a dummy up in the clothing that was appropriate for the Shakespeare time period and began quoting different passages that represented (for example) soliloquies and asides, and the students would have to know what was being portrayed beyond the laughs?

I know it’s a really random idea, but I may very well try pursuing it at some point. We’ll all just have to wait and see. Just don’t be surprised if you see me with a rugged suitcase at some point and hear a voice coming out (since I’d have to learn to throw my voice at some point, you know).