Friday, July 22, 2011

Duso the Dolphin (Or is it Do-so?)

At Horace Mann Elementary School, we had a guidance counselor. I think her name was Mrs. Shelby, but don't hold me to that.

I have a gut feeling that guidance counselors are different now than they were in the 1980's (and very early 90's). I only remember going to her once, because math was hard and I didn't want to be in the advanced group. Not sure why that involves the guidance counselor...

ANYHOW, we learned important life lessons from a puppet named Duso the Dolphin (Although that spelling was found on a quick google search, I always thought it was Do-so) and his other puppet colleagues. Things like sharing, how to not fight, how to not use bad words, how to stand in line, why policemen are nice, etc.







(I have no idea who this man is, I just found the picture on a google images search, and it pretty much matched my memory.)





In early elementary, we would watch the puppet shows and learn from them. 6th graders would help "run" the other puppets (the guidance counselor would be Duso, and 6th graders would be the "friends" - a dog, a flamingo (?), maybe a fish??? some other animals???)



Here is where the story gets Awesome -- In 6th grade, I was asked to be one of the puppet helpers!!! I know, you are jealous.






9 comments:

  1. Not sure why but this week I've been thinking a lot about the lady that, when I was a student in 3rd grade (in Connecticut), came to read stories to us with the help of a dolphin puppet. Just yesterday I asked my sister if she remembered the lady's name or the dolphin's. She did not remember the lady's name but said that the dolphin was named "Do-So". We both recall that Do-So, the dolphin puppet, was used with story books to teach young kids in classrooms how to see the right thing to do in many situations and then doing it, hence "Do-So". I decided to search the internet for Doo So and was pleased to see this page, as well as many others. Strange, the things that we remember as we age and, in this case, it's a good memory.

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    1. This is called guided imagery. It's a form of hypnosis. Did they also give you white fluoride tablets to eat before the puppet lesson?

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  2. I just randomly remembered the Do-So puppet from my elementary school and googled it. This gave me a good laugh!

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  3. I was part of American Guidance Service that published Duso. And yes it is DUSO and acronym for Developing Understanding of Self and Others. A wonderful series we almost made a cartoon series from it but AGS got sold and that was the end of that.

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  4. I was part of American Guidance Service that published Duso. And yes it is DUSO and acronym for Developing Understanding of Self and Others. A wonderful series we almost made a cartoon series from it but AGS got sold and that was the end of that.

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  5. I remember Duso from "regular" elementary school (not a guidance counselor) class around 1976 or so. There was an audio track (cassette tape maybe) and I thought a slide show, talking about taking turns on the playground equipment.... sometimes kids got to "be" Duso, and I never did.

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  6. I remember Duso (I thought it was Do So as a child). A woman, I think our music teacher bit maybe our counselor, would come to our class with a guitar and Duso. She would tell stories, teach lessons, and we would all sing "Hey Duso." This was the late 70's. I always enjoyed Duso's visits! Thanks for posting this.

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  7. I grew up in Missouri. We had Duso the Dolphin too. It happened in the early 90s. Vague memories of this however I remember a lady/counselor? visiting our classroom every once in a while. She would bring the dolphin puppet. I then remember her starting out with a song..."Hey Duso! Come on out...Hey Duso come on out!...blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blee...Hey Duso come on out! Yeah. I think there was a book too possibly a cassette player. Then the story or life lesson would begin.

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  8. I remember Duso from the 3rd grade in Aiken SC. My teacher would bring him out every once in a while, and we loved it.

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