Author: Polsky, Robert M.

Publication Year: 1973

Media Type: Book

Summary:

Getting to Sesame Street is about the origins and early development of the Children's Television Workshop, the New York-based organization that created the enormously popular Sesame Street educational television series for three-to-five-year old children. My book primarily describes the two years from 1966 to 1968, when the idea of a cognitively-based children's television show was examined for its feasibility.

Abstract:

Getting to Sesame Street is about the origins and early development of the Children's Television Workshop, the New York-based organization that created the enormously popular Sesame Street educational television series for three-to-five-year old children. My book primarily describes the two years from 1966 to 1968, when the idea of a cognitively-based children's television show was examined for its feasibility, a formal proposal written, financial support secured, expert advice sought, personnel hired, and the project formally begun. Concentrating on this period prior to the first Sesame Street broadcast in November 1969 has allowed me to examine how decisions made early in the planning affected the show and its subsequent evaluation.

This study was prompted by an interest in the fact that at the time the Workshop was being planned (and to a large extent still today) those who controlled commercial television were unwilling to take the financial and creative risks necessary to create quality children's programming on a regular basis. It was also prompted by an interest in the rise in the phenomena called alternate modes of education - experiences offered to the child as an alternative to education in the classroom, such as the television shows Mr. Rogets' Neighborhood and The Electric Company and educational toys by Creative Playthings and Childcraft. It would appear that a disproportinate percentage of those persons who create and administer these alternate programs are not professional educators. Although the classroom has been frequently studied, little is known about these other systems, the mix in their personnel, and their effect on children. My study, therefore, is an early attempt to create an informed and evidence-based literature in this area. (p. vii-viii)

CONTENTS
Foreword by Douglass Cater.
Preface.

1. The initial planning.
2. The feasibility study: What should television try to teach?
3. Further planning: Developing an educational program children would like.
4. The proposal: using television to reach a forgotten audience.
5. Funding and organization: securing enough money and autonomy.
6. Final preparations and the formal announcement: On the way to Sesame Street.
7. The summer seminars and the goals statement: Refining educational objectives.
8. The success of Sesame Street: Planning, talent, money, timing.

Appendix 1. Funding of children's television workshop, 1968-1970.
Appendix 2. Some major figures referred to in the study.
Appendix 3. Time chart of development of the children's television workshop, 
                  1966-1970.

Notes.
Glossary.
Sources and references.
Index.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Arts Education