Astronaut Academy

Dave Roman's Astronaut Academy

Inspired by Commander Chris Hadfield's tweets and posts (including his rendition of David Bowie's Space Oddity), here is a treat for kids of all ages by Dave Roman and First Second Books. While it takes place in space,  isn't about space or science but it is a lot of fun and worth the read.

Dave Roman's Astronaut Academy began as a webcomic before First Second Books expanded and transformed it into two books. The first, introduces the characters' backgrounds, friendships, arch rivals, and passions. It also vaguely introduces a student "threat" hiding within the school that somehow feeds off of human emotion. In Book 2, the pace picks up as we meet the monster who disguises itself as different people to steal hearts. [In Dave Roman's world, people have multiple hearts to survive physical and emotional threats, and at the same time empowers them to express their love to others by giving them one of their many hearts. Parents give hearts to kids, friends give each other hearts, etc. Just one example of his use of language and metaphor.]

Both books are filled with wisdom, humor, word-play and puns, dinosaur car races and the exciting sport of Fireball.

BOOK ONE - ASTRONAUT ACADEMY: ZERO GRAVITY  (First Second Books, 2011) introduces the school through their "Official Promotional Guide" and once at the Academy, we learn about the various students - their passions, friendships,  secrets and motivations, and in many cases, their rivalries. So for example, Hakata Soy just wants to forget his past and fit in. Marcos Stamatis has a broken heart and wants to impress a girl from his Rocket Science class. Hakata Soy's roommate,Tak Offsky, eats, lives and breathes Fireball.  Maribele Mellonbelly the richest kid ever (whom everyone wants to befriend), is still lonely and finding ways to unseat her "arch rival" Miyumi San, who wants to learn everything she can. 

Below are two pages to show you the feel and genius of this book.

In the first image, we see a page from the school's  "Official Promotional Guide." On this page, we're introduced to three of their very talented staff.

The second image illustrates how Roman introduces just one of his many characters.

From Astronaut Elementary by Dave  Roman, Courtesy First Second Books (2011

Sample page from  Astronaut Elementary by Dave Roman Courtesy of First Second Books (2011)

There are a lot of characters in this story, and the genius of Dave Roman and Astronaut Academy  is that he introduces their stories and voices in an organized manner.  Mini-chapters are introduced with the name of the character 'talking,' along with a brief snippet about the character, and each has his or her own unique look and manner. So for example in the page above we see that this chapter will be told from Cybert the cyborg's perspective, and that Cybert is somewhat 'confused' and has "no idea what I'm doing at Astronaut Academy."  

When discussing how he set up the characters, Roman commented (in an interview with ComicBookResources.com):

I try to think about archetypes I might be playing to or against. For example, Hakata Soy is introduced as a  mysterious hero with a troubled past, so he wears a high collared jacket and has wild hair, sort of like a sci-fi James Dean...

Aside from the brilliant way we meet the characters, here are some of my favorite examples of Roman's word-play, humor, and 'words of wisdom':

• The "fabric of time" is a worn-torn garment;
• One of the characters notes, "A few years ago on the far planet of Hoppiton I lived hoppily with my family..."
• Another character talks about how he got a "crush" on a girl - after literally being crushed by her;
• The Guidance Chancellor B or Bee advises a renegade cyborg whose only goal (at that time) is  destroying Hakata Soy that, "You could spend your WHOLE LIFE searching for an exclusive chase card...and no matter how many booster packs you buy, never find the one you seek. Diversify your interests. Don't let one card game consume your ambitions."
• Mr. Taketo Sky is one of the Astronaut Academy teachers and Tak Offsky is a student;
• Students are told by Mr. Taketo Sky to "...start ADDING two and two together by solving these QUESTIONABLE EQUATIONS." 

For more 'goodies' please see:

• First Second Books Promotional Trailer for Book One
• The web version of the first book Astronaut Elementary

 

Teaching suggestions for Astronaut Academy: Zero Gravity:

•  Addressing Common Core State Standards (CCSS) this book is full of advanced vocabulary, and tells the story verbally and visually, addressing multi-modal teaching.
• This book is full of wordplay, acronyms, puns and metaphors.  Have your students go on a scavenger hunt through the book looking for examples. (CCSS: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use, Conventions of Standard English, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity)
• The book opens with a new student arriving late in the semester.  This is a great way to start a new term, reading this aloud to help students feel more comfortable in their new class.
• This book is about stereotyping, rivalry and friendship - important learning points for all kids.
• Since students are continuously meeting new students as the characters are introduced, you can have them work in groups constructing character maps of each one (CCSS: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use, Craft and Structure, Key Ideas and Details, Comprehension and Collaboration, Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas.)  Then meet as a whole, comparing and contrasting character traits.

BOOK TWO - ASTRONAUT ACADEMY: RE-ENTRY (First Second, 2013) begins as the students return to school after semester break and find security is "beared-up" because the monster feeding on their emotions is now a serious threat. With their kids' safety at jeopardy (many have 'heart attacks' as they are tricked to give one of their hearts to the heart-eating monster), the school goes into lockdown mode searching for robots and later banning love. The action centers on an epic Fireball championship and the mysterious heart-stealing monster. After ineffective teacher/parent interventions, students learn that they must rely on themselves. There are space ninjas, dinosaur cars, security 'bears' and the story is told through inspiring images, and page design, with puns and wordplay galore to relieve the stress and tension.

• Here is a "Re-Entry Book Trailer""
• Here are some sample pages, courtesy of First Second Books 
• And, for readers who grew up with Where's Waldo and love searches and scavenger hunts, Dave Roman in the same interview, mentioned above tells us that:

"Here's a (possibly incomplete) list if anyone wants to go on a pop culture scavenger hunt through "Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry!" Some of the other things possibly referenced include "My Neighbor Totoro," "THX 1138," My Chemical Romance, Harry and the Potters, All Girl Summer Fun Band, The Knitting Factory, "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," "Doctor Who," "A Wrinkle in Time," "Back to the Future," "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," "The Halloween Tree," "Sweeney Todd," "Star Wars," "Mystery Science Theater 3000," "The Aquabats," "Digimon," "The Ewok Movie," "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "The Black Hole," "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown," Sega Saturn games, "Dark Side of the Moon," "Pinocchio," "Sailor Moon," Kiss, "Avatar: The Last Airbender," "Gatchaman," Cobra Commander, Tales of Ribaldry, Pom Poko, "Transformers," "Say Anything," "Voltron," "The Fly," MC Hammer, Depeche Mode, "Sonic The Hedgehog," Bum Equipment, Ub Iwerks, Bumper Boy, Monticello, "The Secret of Nimh," ShamWow, Team Rocket, "Super Mario World" and "Flight of the Navigator."

Students traveling to school after semester break. Courtesy of Dave Roman and First Second Books, 2013

In addition to these goodies, Roman continues to include wordplay, wisdom and fun. Here are some examples:

• Thalia Thistle, ace Fireball player has an aversion to acronyms and in one instance, two 'security bears' try to figure out what "BFF" means;
• A wounded student is taken to Dr. Nursen;
• One of the 'security bears' announces that he "hates to be the bear of bad news... "
• A student notes that after a science-project gone awry by his scientist parents, they became less-visible, ""My parents' visits were increasingly short and trans-parent"
• Another character who finds he cannot compete on the Fireball team becomes interested and words and spelling bees saying, "...something about the way they were constructed always intrigued me. I liked the way they looked and sounded."
• Words of wisdom: "I know Dad is worried about my safety...but life involves scrapes and bruises, especially if I want to play the game..."

Here is a page from Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry:

Security Bears meet Thalia in Dave Roman's Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry. Courtesy First Second Books (2013)

Teaching suggestions for Astronaut Academy: Re-Entry:

• Have students go on a scavenger hunt for acronyms, puns and word-play.  Have them create their own that might easily fit into the book and story as well. (CCSS: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use, Conventions of Standard English, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity)
• Discuss the themes of this book: teamwork, forgiveness, rivalry. Map their development.  (CCSS: Key Ideas and Details, Integration of knowledge and Ideas, Comprehension and Collaboration)
• Compare the different style of story-telling in the two books (CCSS: Conventions of Standard English, Craft and Structure, Key Ideas and Details, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas, Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity, Text Types and Purposes, Presentation of Knwoledge and Ideas.)
• Meeting CCSS, have students practice different forms of writing, creating "Rules of Play" for Fireball.  You may want them to brainstorm on ways the game can be played in school/ recess.  They can also write/review the game as it is being played. (CCSS: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use, Conventions of Standard English, Craft and Structure, Key Ideas and Details, Text Types and Purposes, Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas.)

These books are wonderful entertainment for kids of ALL ages.  I hope you take a closer look yourselves.

In the meantime, thank you for your visit, and please leave your reactions, reviews, and creative ideas in the comments.

Reviewing Rust

Having recently presented at Chicago's C2E2, I came back with some awesome graphic novels and thought I would use ABC Wednesday's "R" Week to Review one them - RUST by Royden Lepp (Archaia). To date, there are two (of four) volumes of Rust, and here is a review along with teaching suggestions:

By Royden Lepp courtesy of Archaia.com

Rating: These books have been rated appropriate reading for all ages - although I would say they will be enjoyed by readers Grade 4 through adult. While younger readers will easily focus on Roman and Oswald his younger brother along with their responsibilities to their farm and family, and their relationship with Jet Jones,  older readers will comprehend the larger issues of artificial intelligence, and drone warfare.

While there are now two Rust books, it appears there will be four volumes and a possible movie with 20th Century Fox. In an interview with Comic Book Resources, Lepp reveals that Joe Cornish (Attack the Block, The Adventures of Tintin, Ant-Man) will be the director, working with Aline McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada) as screenwriter.

Overall impressions: Both volumes are brilliantly illustrated in sepia tone which gives the story a Dust Bowl and post World War I feeling and both are in hardcover.  Both tell a compelling story of discovery, war, responsibility, and empowerment. Both really make you think about the characters, their stories, and the challenges of "coming of age."

And, while both books open up with war scenes between jet-propelled 'boys,' large 30-foot mechanical drone monstrosities, and men; and while both contain a super-hero aspect, the story is more about family than about war, robots, or superheroes. In both books, Roman (and in the second book Roman's little brother Oswald) write letters to their dad who is still away (we assume at war), and both books emphasize Roman and Oswald's sense of responsibility to the farm, family and to each other. There are subplots:

• Addressing life with advancing technologies in AI (artificial intelligence) and the balancing roles of humans vs. machines (including farm work and drone warfare). For more on this, please read a post by Stuart Warren (3/14/2013 at sequart.org) "A Unwlecomed Visitation: A Treatment of Drone Warfare in Royden Lepp's Rust"
• Furthermore, while RUST takes place on a farm in what looks like Dust Bowl Oklahoma, the reader is unsure if the land became barren because of environmental issues or as the result of neglect and drone infantry combat.

Volume 1 Rust: Visitor in the field is about a teenager, Roman Taylor who, while living in an alternate world/time, lives in what looks like the Dust Bowl Oklahoma (in an alternate world)  in the 1930's that is recovering from what looks like World War I.  His father was called to war and Roman is struggling to keep their small farm solvent. Then one day, Jet Jones crash-lands on the farm. As Roman learns more about Jet, discovering how Jet works and Jet's past, Roman becomes more hopeful about his future and the welfare of his family and their farm. So hopeful, that he tends to overlook nagging questions about Jet that remain unanswered.

When Jet Jones first appears, he is fighting a larger rogue machine. Roman helps Jones defeat the larger drone and secures him as a farm hand helping with the harvest and with rebuilding a disabled Model-C robot (which in turn will add more helping hands on the farm) so Oswald can return to school. Oswald is beginning to ask questions of the past, of war, and is questioning who Jet Jones is.

Rust: Secrets of the Cell by Royden Lepp; courtesy of Archaia

Rust: Secrets of the Cell. Royden Lepp, Archaia

Volume 2 Rust: Secrets of the Cell begins by revealing et Jones' past, filled with difficulties he had to overcome (and may still be wrestling with). Roman is still wrestling to get the farm back up, still sees Jet Jones and the re-tooling of Model C's as the key, and still is willing to overlook unanswered questions about Jet Jones. We also begin to question if there might be a budding romance between Roman and Jesse Aicot. But in this volume, the plot focuses on revealing more about Oswald, Jet Jones and Mr. Aicot's ability to shed some answers.  Here is a free preview from Archaia.

The book opens 48 years in the past where we get a glimpse of Jet Jones as he 'escapes' his past (as seen in the panels above and to the right).  Oswald questions Jet Jones' role and motives, and when talking with neighbor (and retired soldier) Mr. Aicot, Oswald learns more about the war, its use of drones and about Models C's and Jet Jones.  The story is beautifully layered and is full of intrigue, tension, and heart as we begin to truly question each of the characters, their roles in the farm, in the war, and with each other.


Classroom Suggestions: As these books are appropriate for all ages, classroom suggestions become more layered.   I would recommend that these volumes be used by students grades 4+

For middle-school learners:

• Discuss what it was like living in Dust Bowl of the 1930's.  
• You may want to compare this book to Karen Hesse's Out of the Dust [by Karen Hesse is about a girl, living in the Dust Bowl who suffers a debilitating accident shortly after the death of her mother, and must learn to face life's harsh lessons with patience and grace.  This novel is written solely in prose and poetry and the author's use of language is breathtaking]. 
• You can discuss the different story-telling aspects of prose, poetry and image.]or to the famous and powerful photographs of Dorothea Lange
• Discuss the role of family, responsibility and issues of 'coming of age'
• Discuss the role of heroes vs. anti-heroes

For high school learners these books might be read when discussing

• War and its effect on families, farms, civilians;
• AI - Artificial intelligence: where we are today, its possibilities, the pros and cons of using AI in our daily lives;
• Drone warfare
• The changing roles of heroes and anti-heroes;

  

  Visitor In the Field. Royden Lepp (Archaia)

Common Core State Standards that can be addressed when reading these books:

• Key Ideas and Details: 
• Recount details;
• Quote accurately from the text when explaining content;
• Compare and contrast character motivations or plot development between the two volumes;
• Discuss the central versus secondary themes;
• Analyze how particular elements of the story's drama interact, and/or the role of dialogue versus visual story-telling. 
• With limited text this may help weak readers, although the limited text also expands inference making as readers must gather their data by analyzing and integrating visual messages along with text.
• Craft and Structure: in this graphic novel, we are experiencing the story as it unfolds from each character's perspective.  This is a wonderful tool for teaching the difference betweeen 1st-person and 3rd-person perspectives.
• Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: interpreting information presented visually and explain how the information contributes to understanding the text (gr. 4), drawing information from multiple print sources (gr. 5), Comparing these books to others on similar topics also falls under the CCSS for this area.

 Common Core State Standards with Writing exercises:

• Roman and Oswald write letters to their father.  You might have students write letters to members of their own families who are far away, or you may have them write letters to "Mr. Taylor" from Roman and/or Oswald's perspective (Conventions of Standard English, Knowledge of Language, Vocabulary Acquisition and Use, )
• Have students write a research paper on drone warfare and/or artificial intelligence (Research to Build and Present Knowledge all grades) 
• Have students write an opinion piece addressing the pros or cons of using drone warfare (addressing Text Types and Purposes of the CCSS for all grades)
• Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity -can be addressed when pairing these books with other fiction and non-fiction works about artificial intelligence, the Dust Bowl, and/or drone warfare.

Common Core State Standards for Speaking and Listening:

• Have students role play, acting out important parts or decisions of the book (Comprehension and Collaboration)
• Have students present and discuss their research projects (see above) (Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas)

 

Thanks, as always, for your visit.  

Please leave your impressions and reactions, or other pairing/lesson suggestions  in the comments.

From Rust: Secrets of the Cell.  By Royden Lepp, Archaia

The Quest for Quality Education: An Open Dialogue

Maybe the problem we have with developing the key to quality education is that we still haven't quite defined what that is.  Or, maybe the problem is that because each of our students is different, with his or her unique blend of skills, affinities, strengths and weaknesses, one set of definitions and /or goals just doesn't work for everyone. Or, maybe the reason why the United States is falling behind in  national educational rankings is that we don't even know what it is we need to measure.

On the other hand, each and every one of us know what a good teacher is when we meet them. For more on this please go to "Great Teacher" Judgment Call or Objective Evaluation" and to read about the economic value of a good teacher, please see "Teachers' Worth."

Art by Viktor Hachmang courtesy of The New York Times 5/4/2013 "A Talent for Teaching"

Quality teachers are those who respect their students, take learning profiles and affinities into account while keeping the bar of expectations high.  Good teachers talk with their students not to them, and good teachers find ways to make learning meaningful and exciting - their classes are ALIVE!!!

One such teacher, taught my husband Shakespeare in high school.  He developed a course called "Beatles and Shakespeare" where he got the bodies for his class by teaching about the Beatles but then moved to Shakespeare where songs of old and new came alive, and hooked his students on the Bard's work. This teacher, Eph Gerber, is now working on teacher development research and training where he hopes to find ways to help teachers  find the "ARTIST" within them. Through art - in its various forms - Eph believes teachers while keeping the expectations high will make the material more memorable and meaningful.

So, in my own personal quest to define quality education and with Eph's project in mind, I devote this post to quality teachers and their classroom contributions from articles and posts I've recently found. Below are three examples of teachers who have creatively found ways to reach students while raising the bar:

1. Peter Nonacs talks about letting his class "cheat." Nonacs, a professor in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at UCLA teaches juniors and seniors about animal behavior.  According to an article he posted "Cheating to Learn: How a UCLA Professor Gamed a Game Theory Midterm" he notes:

300 × 273

300 × 273

Animals and their behavior have been my passions since my Kentucky boyhood and I strive to nurture this love for nature in my students...Much of evolution and natural selection can be summarized in three short words: "Life is games." In any game, the object is to win...Game Theory, is devoted to mathematically describing the games that nature plays...

So last quarter I had an intriguing thought while preparing my Game Theory lectures. Tests are really just measures of how the Education Game is proceeding...What if I let the students write their own rules for the test-taking game? Allow them to do everything we would normally call cheating?

A week before the test, I told my class that the Game Theory exam would be insanely hard...but as recompense, for this one time only, students could cheat.  They could bring and use anything or anyone they liked, including animal behavior experts...surf the Web... talk to each other or call friends who'd taken the course before...Only violations of state or federal criminal law such as kidnapping my dog, blackmail, or threats of violence were out of bounds...

On the day of the hour-long test they faced a single question: "If evolution through natural selection is a game, what are the players, teams, rules, objectives and outcomes?"

One student immediately ran to the chalkboard and she began to organize the outputs for each question section. The class divided tasks. They debated. Whey worked on hypotheses...A schedule was established for writing the consensus answers...

215 × 193

215 × 193

In the end,  the students learned what social insects like ants and termites have known for hundreds of millions of years. To win at some games, cooperation is better than competition. Unity that arises through a diversity of opinion is stronger than any solitary competitor.

For more please press the links above for the article as well as for a KCRW interview. 

2. In the New York Times Sunday Dialogue: A Talent for Teaching (May4, 2013) David Greene a staff writer for WISE Services, treasurer of Save Our Schools, and former teacher mentor for Teach for America writes that:

Seasoned professionals know what works: being creative, independent, spontaneous, practical and rule-bending. Often it is the least orthodox teacher who most engages and excites students. Scripts and rules and models strictly followed cannot

replace what the best teachers have: practical wisdom...

The practical wisdom of good teaching is more than being creative or spontaneous. It is knowing when and how to use best practices. It includes how to prepare and use great questions, and knowing when to veer to places students take us. It includes when and how to use the science of teaching as well as the art. Practical wisdom is not following a script prepared by others who do not know your students and how they work.  Teaching is both an art and a science...a great teacher inspires.

 3. Sue Mellon teachers poetry to 7th and 8th graders by integrating science, technology, engineering math and art with Robert Frost's poetry. As Barbara Ray writes in Mind/Shift's "Combining Robotics With Poetry? Art and Engineering Can Co-Exist" (4/4/13):

Poetry isn't always easy for students. But with hands-on engagement, they gain new understanding. Take Robert Frost's "Pasture." Instead of just reading and discussing the work in a typical classroom setting, students make 21st-century dioramas with robotic tool kits containing sensors, motors, LEDs, and a controller...

A lot of kids aren't crazy about poetry," Mellon said. "But we have to help them engage with it. After spending two weeks analyzing the poem and creating visual imagery and symbolism for their dioramas, they really understand the work and get quite passionate."

Stories like Mellon's can be found all around the Allegheny School District these days as the area, already renowned for its groundbreaking work in STEM, takes on STEAM. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math...But as STEM took hold, some began to wonder if there was a component missing. Enter the STEAM movement...STEM needs to include art and design...the A is the creative ART element...[and the Congressional STEAM Caucus was launched.]

For those loyal readers who have read my other posts, I prefer not repeating some of the other inspiring teachers I've already spoken about. But for the uninitiated visitor, I urge you to read about the inspiring slam poetry of Taylor Mali - Part I  and  Part II , and the real-life math lessons of Lockhart's Lament.  They too are inspired and inspiring teachers.

Finally, there are the fictional teachers from movies.  And, while they may be fictional, their characters and lessons spark and inspire teachers and students alike:

• Mr. Glenn Holland (from Mr. Holland's Opus)
• Professor John Keating (from Dead Poet's Society)
• Mr. Mark Thackeray (from To Sir With Love)
• Miss Riley (from October Sky)
• Mr. Forrester (from Finding Forrester)
• Professor Melvin Tolson (from The Great Debaters)

In closing, the teachers and lessons above do involve a confidence and 'artistic' twist.  Successful teachers and lessons pull on passions in acting, gaming, performance skills, even cooking.  So maybe Eph is on the right track.  What do you think?  

Please leave your impressions, experiences and reactions in the comments below.

And as always, thank you for your visit!

Poseidon: Earth Shaker

Poseidon, brother of Zeus, son of Kronos and Rhea, ruler of the seas and creator of storms, tempests, and tsunamis that shake the earth, is back in live action and color thanks to George O'Connor and First Second Books. This book has breath-taking art, great story-telling, a detailed Greek god family tree to help us mere mortals follow their royal lineage, Greek Geek notes, discussion points, and links for extra reading. Aside from O'Connor's continuing to bring the Greek Gods to life rivaling  D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myth's mantle, this book belongs in home and school libraries.  Let's take a closer look why:

This fifth volume of the Olympian series is absolutely AWESOME as George O'Connor tells his story through a powerful combination of image and text story-telling.  In telling Poseidon's story, O'Connor focuses on a few themes, all of which serve as vehicles for further discussion and learning, and all of which can be used in integrating Common Core State Standards:

• Throughout the book Poseidon questions his "choice" to rule the seas and whether it was a choice at all.  Was Zeus' idea to draw lots the best way to divide the cosmos? This, in turn, can lead to discussions for readers of all ages about decisions and decision making, and whether our decisions are as 'free' as we think they are. For example, on pages 4-7 O'Connor relays how Zeus and his brothers divided the spoils of the battle of the Titans.  He notes that, "Zeus was awarded the sky. He alone of us grew up knowing it...there could be no other way...I of course, drew the sea. As with my brothers, this was the only way it could be... Or was it?"

Poseidon: Earth Shaker by George O'Connor Image courtesy of First Second

• O'Connor also relays Poseidon's role in  Odysseus' story from Poseidon's perspective.  As a result this book can be used for classroom or independent reading on Greek mythology as well as a preview for Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and James Joyce's Ulysses. This is also a way to introduce 1st-person versus 3rd-person narratives and the value of perspective (complying and integrating Common Core State Standards).

Poseidon Earth Shaker by George O'Connor  image courtesy of First Second Books

• To introduce Poseidon's son Theseus, O'Connor relays Poseidon's regret that "my children have always tended to be monstrous (Polyphemos the cyclops, Triton, Otus and Ephialtes, to name a few), and his reflection (on page 26) that "The desire to produce a suitable heir drives so much of what we do." This theme is found throughout history and literature and can be used, for example, when discussing the lengths Henry VIII took to have a son or  Shakespeare's King Lear's quest to find the right child to inherit his kingdom(to name a few).  This clearly fits the new Common Core State Standards integrating literature, non-fiction and history with multi-modal story telling. This can also be used as a writing theme (creative or analytic) on parenting roles and perspectives.

Poseidon: Earth Shaker by George O'Connor image courtesy of First Second Books

• Visual literacy -relates to our ability to use and understand images to tell emotional, meaningful and memorable stories. This is especially evident in the vivid images and story O'Connor presents as Poseidon wrestles with his 'choice' of being god of the seas.  As Poseidon gently falls to the bottom of his realm, for example, he begins to wrestle with this 'choice.' While he feels the seas aptly reflects his temper and moods, his tempestuous nature builds as "the waves slide from my dark hair...from the roaring deep my voice thunders...I am Poseidon, earth shaker, ruler of the boundless sea, creator of storms, swallower of ships." This building of emotion is done brilliantly through the use of image and page/panel design and begs deeper analysis. O'Connor's portrayal of Thesues' role in mastering the labyringh and slaying the minotaur is also a classic example of how image can tell a story.  Here are some discussion points to consider when critically reading and evaluating any portion of this book:
• Point out the use of color, lines and shading to build the story around the text
• Discuss how emotions are relayed in the images (especially in pages 5-12)
• Discuss the use of panel arrangement to help tell the story.  On pages 37-42 O'Connor tells the story of Theseus and the Labyrinth.  Here in particular O'Connor playfully uses panels to help tell the story.

  

  Poseidon: Earth Shaker by George O'Connor image courtesy of First Second Books

Thank  you for your visit.  

Please leave your reactions and other teaching point in the comments.

And, please check out the links below for more on Poseidon.

More links for Poseidon and for Poseiden Earth Shaker by Geroge O'Connor, First Second Books:

• Interview with George O'Connor
• All about Poseidon from http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Poseidon.html
• All about Poseidon from http://www.mythindex.com/greek-mythology/P/Poseidon.html

What are Perceptual Motor Skills, And How do I Help my Kid Get Them? Part II

harlemglobetrotters.com

In an earlier post, "What are Perceptual Motor Skills and How Do I Get my Kid Some?" I gave an overview of what perceptual motor skills are, how they impact daily in our lives, and how to help promote them.

Perceptual motor skills refer to our ability to coordinate constant input and feedback between our eyes - brain - and muscles as we plan, coordinate and effectively carry out specific activities such as moving, walking, running, skipping, eating, working, writing, keyboarding, texting, driving, playing, etc.

I've gotten a lot of wonderful inquiries and feedback (thank you all), and devote this post to discussing the differences between gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and  grapho-motor skills - which correspond to different muscle groups and therefore to different types of perceptual motor skills, all of which we rely daily from birth to death.

Our development of perceptual motor skills begins at birth, and while there are developmental milestones doctors, psychologists, health providers and teachers will refer to, kids develop these skills at different rates.  IF you are concerned about your own child's skills, ask these professionals for guidance.  However, the best way to develop these skills is to practice them and consciously pay attention to the feedback you get when practicing.  Feedback refers to how successful each element of the practice was at achieving the target goal- the strength used, the grip used, the extension used, etc.

From: www.greatvoice.com

How to help kids develop perceptual motor skills: Different activities engage different types of muscle groups and as a result different muscles and brain centers are responsible for coordinating eye-brain-hand/foot/mouth/body responses.  

• ALL percpetual motor skills develop at slightly different paces although experts have set 'normal' developmental milestone limits, and 
• ALL development involves practice in use and recognizing and understanding motor feedback (how effective different movements are at achieving a target goal).

From: blog.virtualworldfitness.net

FINE MOTOR SKILLS involve coordinating the use of small muscle groups (typically in the fingers, hands, wrists, feet, toes, lips and tongue)  in tasks such as buttoning, sewing, eating, beading, painting, drawing, tying shoe laces, or grabbing something with your thumb and forefinger. Note that fine motor skills, while integrating eye-brain-hand feedback, are not responsible for handwriting (which falls under graph-motor skills - more details below).

What you can do to help kids develop fine motor skills:

• PRACTICE, practice, practice.  Start with simplified, large materials and gradually move to smaller/heavier/narrower objects.
• Play with legos and blocks- starting with the larger pieces and gradually integrate and move to the smaller ones;
• Beading - start with large beads and once mastered, bead with smaller and smaller objects;
• Bow tying - you may want to start with thick yarn or thick tying materials on dolls, large books and gradually move to thinner and thinner tying materials such as laces.
• Make play-dough together, mixing the flour, water, salt, by hand and choosing your own colors.  Making it requires kneading which is EXCELLENT fine motor practice for all kinds of hands.
• For younger kids, there are wonderful fine-motor books you can make or buy where you can read the book and have your child practice buttoning, tying, sewing, playing with zippers, etc. These are great because the practice element is built in and is fun!
• For kids with weak oral/mouth/tongue coordination, practice making sounds placing the tongue in different locations. Note the difference sounds depending on the placement of tongue and lips.
• Squeezing squeezy toys can help kids develop stronger grips and hand muscles.

 For more information on fine motor skills please read:

• Children's Health: Fine motor skills (this site defines fine motor skills, charts developmental milestones in fine motor development, defines key terms, common problems, possible parental concerns, fine motor development tests, and resources).
• 50 Fine motor activities for children
• More fine motor for children
• Fine motor development 0-6 Years

GROSS MOTOR SKILLS involve coordinating the use of large muscle groups involved in motor activities that involve large movements such as crawling, walking, running, jumping, balancing, dancing, most sports.

What you can do to help kids develop gross motor skills:

• PRACTICE, practice, practice.  Start with simplified, large materials and gradually move to smaller/heavier/narrower objects. Also, for those with weak gross motor skills, have them practice in the privacy of their home/room where they won't fall victim to possible ridicule and/or embarrassment.
• Play ball, practice throwing and catching.  Start with large, soft balls and gradually decrease their size and weight
• Teach your child how to skip which involves stepping and hopping.  Break down the skipping movements and exaggerate them at first, refining the movements gradually.
• Practice balance by walking on wide lines or tiles and gradually trying to walk on narrower lines.
• Play games like Simon Says and Mother May I

 For more information on gross motor skills please read:

• Children's Health: Gross motor skills (this site defines gross motor skills, charts developmental milestones in gross motor development, defines key terms, common problems, possible parental concerns, gross motor development tests, and resources).
• Helping children develop gross motor skills

GRAPHOMOTOR SKILLS involve highly specialized coordination between eye-hand-finger movements used for writing, and writing only. [Drawing, interestingly enough falls under fine-motor skills.] More specifically, graphomotor skills include how to effectively hold a pencil so the hand doesn't tire, muscle movements needed to shape letters, and kinesthetic feedback necessary to monitor progress when writing making sure the letters look like they're supposed to, that the ink or pencil lead is not too weak or too strong, and that there is just the right space between letters and words so others can read them (whether they are in print or script).

What you can do to help kids develop graphomotor skills:

• PRACTICE, practice, practice. 
• Have your child practice handwriting - first with a large pencil and large lined paper, gradually using thinner pencils and more narrowly spaced lines.
• Grips help some kids but not all of them.  Furthermore, there are different types of grips and you may want to experiment.
• Make sure students have enough space on math sheets and worksheets to comfortably fill in the required response.

 For more information on graphomotor skills please read:

• Graphomotor Skills: Let's Talk Writing - discusses what kids with weak graphomotor skills look like, factors that effect handwriting, strategies and accommodations for kids with poor handwriting,
• Handwriting and dysgraphia
• Understanding spelling errors
• Graphomotor Skills:  Why some kids hate to write
• Tips for improving handwriting

Thank you all so much for your visit.  Please leave your thoughts, ideas and perceptual motor strategies in the comments below.

Optical Illusions and their role in Education, Brain Training, and Visual Literacy

Aside from being fun, optical illusions actually play a role in education and in visual literacy.  They help illustrate that we see by learning to see.  While our brains relay information taken in through our eyes, we learn to interpret what we see by recognizing and storing patterns we learn as we continuously interact with the world around us.  These patterns enable us to identify faces, dangers, friends, directions, routes, and opportunities around us.

[SPOILER ALERT:  This post will detail how we learn to see and illustrate the power of optical illusions...but if you don't have time for all of it, skip to the final video clip which will blow your minds - at least it blew mine.]

Understanding Optical Illusions and the Power of Visual Literacy:
When learning to see, read, or interact with the world around us, context is integral to understanding.  Context helps prime the brain to anticipate what is coming, usually making processing faster and more efficient.  We do this all the time with reading.  While research now shows that we 'look at' and process each letter as we read, our brains process the shape evaluating "probable' letters and constructing 'probable' words and content.  This is why it is so important to preview new materials when teaching. When we our brains 'think' it is one letter or word and it doesn't make sense, more attention is given to the visual cues and reading slows down. Context is also essential when viewing/interpreting images and it is context that creators 'twist' with optical illusions.

Here's how CONTEXT helps us learn how to see:
You can take identical squares and surround them in different colors and they will 'look' different. In this example, the surface color of squares A and B are identical.  Cover the seam where squares A and B meet, and you'll see (wait a few seconds for your eyes/brain to adjust).

From: http://brainden.com/color-illusions.htm

For more on color and the "context" different colors relay, please go to:

• Color Casts Powerful Messages: Learn How to USE it!
• Light Contrast Illusions
• Color Illusions
• Color Context and Simultaneous Contrast
• Beau Lotto: Optical Illusions show how we see

But, there's a lot more to context and learning to see than color cues.

Gestalt theory addresses many of these issues formulating that the unified whole of an object we 'see' is more than the sum of its individual parts.  Gestalt theorists originally identified five key principles (and later added a sixth) that influence how we 'see' when we look at images:

From: http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/illusions/

• Figure/Ground - we tend to separate forms in an image, focusing on "dominant wholes" while pushing other parts of the image into the background.  We do this with the optical illusion of the "old hag/young woman" for example.  In this image we can push the old hag's face and white hair forward or place the young woman's brown hair and hat with feather forward pushing the old hag's features in the background. Camouflage works under this principle as well.  The material's meandering lines of mottled-colored patterns disrupt our brains by trying to hide the contour or outline of the body or vehicle.  

From:http://jeffbrew.com/2012/02/26/howto-gestalt-principles-and-photography/

Another very famous example by Edgar Rubin, the "Rubin Vase" is one of the most well know demonstrations of how the figure-ground relationship works:  In this case, the image changes depending on whether we focus on the faces or the vase.

From: http://gestalttheorysam.blogspot.com/2011/02/6-principles-of-gestalt-theory.html

• Proximity - we tend to group objects together based on their placement or proximity. So, objects or shapes that are close to one another appear to form groups.  Fruit in a bowl is perceived of as "fruit" and not "one banana, one apple, one apple, grapes, one orange, and one more apple." In the example above, the proximity of dots and dark spots become a 'dog':

• Similarity - we tend to perceive forms with similar characteristics (size, color, shape, etc.) as a group. The more alike the items are, the more likely they are to form groups. As dissimilar as they are, our minds will conversely resist grouping them together.  In the image here, there are two different shapes that are grouped to form a pattern. We group the squares together to form a cross surrounded for four groups of circles.  In this case, the square is the figure and the sets of circles are the ground.

• Closure - we tend to 'fill in' information in images which appear incomplete to us.  We do this when reading or writing (and unfortunately sometimes when editing): we often won't recognize if letters were missing because we tend or prefer to see words as complete entities and not as individual letters. Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics) discusses how our brains automatically want to make shapes into human (or recognizable) forms.  In the image here, we see the swirls of 'people' as a tree because our minds focus more on the continuous 'movement' of the people, and close them into one complete image
  

• Continuance or Continuity- we tend to continue shapes beyond their ending point as the edge of one shape will continue into the space and meet up with other shapes or edges of the picture plane. Continuance in the form of a line, an edge, or a direction from one form to another creates a fluid connection among compositional parts. Here are three factors that contribute to continuance: 

• Perspective
•  Eye direction of a subject - if an object in a photo or image is looking in a particular direction,  our eyes will follow the gaze of that subject;
•  Paths or rivers draw effectively use 'line' to draw the viewer's eyes in a particular direction. 

In the image of the 'tree' above, continuance is involved as the images of 'swirling' continue into each other to create the tree.  Perspective and continuance work brilliantly in this photograph found at http://jeffbrew.com/2012/02/26/howto-gestalt-principles-and-photography/. In this photograph, the causeway forms a line of continuity, drawing the viewer's eyes to the group of trees in the background.

• Some have added a sixth principle of Symmetry - when we perceive objects we tend to perceive them as symmetrical shapes that form around their center. Furthermore, the principle of symmetry work particularly well when framing photos and images. People are accustomed to receiving information in a systematic and organized manner and tend to avoid material that requires too much work to process and comprehend.  A symmetrical design will create a sense of equilibrium and balance while an asymmetrical design will cause tension. Often, however (especially with images), the tension created makes the image more interesting and less 'boring'(see the photo below).  The goal is to structure you images (and your text) to be easy to follow but not overly predictable and engaging with some nuance, twist, or hook to keep your audiences attention.

From: http://jeffbrew.com/2012/02/26/howto-gestalt-principles-and-photography/

NOTE that while I have given you visual examples of each of the gestalt principles, many images use multiple principles to successfully work as optical illusions.

For fun, here is a link of optical illusions in photos from Bored Panda with some of my favorites below:

 1. Camouflage art by Wilma Hurskaninen (link)



2. French landscape astrophotographer Laurent Laveder shows how some simple props and a bit of imagination can turn the moon into anything you like. (link)



3. A work by Japanese artist Makoto Aida titled AZEMICHI (a path between rice fields). (link) which clearly illustrates the principle of continuance.





The artist Maurits Cornelis Escher is famous for his optical illusions which integrate most of the gestalt princiiples:

Relativity, 1953

 Drawing Hands, 1948

But there is even more to learning to see than gestalt and color... some images become so familiar and universal, they become symbols or icons. Just the way we learn to use the alphabet and sight words to help us read, we use icons, signs and symbols to help us see. A car's dashboard, for example will show an icon to tell us to change the oil, close our doors, secure our seat belts, when we need gas (and on what side of the car we will find the gas tank) and so much more:

From: depositphotos.com

 

Playing with optical illusions provides us with experience in learning HOW to interpret complex images.  The more we experience, the more flexible we are in interpreting what we see.

From: http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/illusions/

The Hering illusion is an optical illusion discovered by the German physiologist Ewald Hering in 1861. The two horizontal lines are both straight, but they look as if they were bowed outwards. The distortion is produced by the lined pattern on the background that simulates a perspective design, and creates a false impression of depth. Note that the thinner line appears more bowed than the thicker line.

In closing, here is a literally 'mind-blowing' video illustrating HOW are minds are trained to interpret images a certain way, and how confusing it is for us when we 'see' one thing but our mind 'understands' what we see in another way entirely.  Below is a video that the mind (at least my addled mind) just can't grasp - illustrating how important the 'literacy' segment is of visual literacy

For more fun, brain blasting and brain training please visit these cites:

• National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Kids' Pages: Illusions
• Principles of Gestalt Theory
• How to: Gestalt Principles and Photography
• Gestalt Principles
• Visual Phenomena and Optical Illusions
• Visual Neuroscience: Optical Illusions

Thanks for your visit this week.  Please leave your favorite optical illusions or any other reactions, suggestions, and/or questions in the "Comments."