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maxwell-grant · 4 years ago

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Your Top Five Pulp Heroes that you wish were better known? By Pulp Hero fans, I mean. Since pretty much all of them except Conan and Tarzan are fairly unknown.

It’s actually quite hard for me to narrow it down to just five, because I’m having to choose between characters that are my favorites that I wish were more well-known and appreciated (which is all of them), and characters that aren’t quite my favorites but I very much think should have achieved great popularity for a myriad of reasons. So instead I’m going to pick some of each. These are not necessarily ranked by their importance or my personal taste, just 5 characters I felt like highlighting in particular.

Honorable mentions goes to characters I already talked about prior and don’t want to repeat myself on. These aren’t “lesser” picks, just ones that I already talked about: Imaro (who in particular definitely feels like he could, and should be, a pop culture superstar if he was only more well-known), Kapitan Mors (who’s got a lot in common with one of my favorite fictional characters, Captain Nemo, but also has a lot of interesting things going on for him as his own character). Sar Dubnotal (a character that appeals a lot to me and I think should be included much more often in pulp hero team-ups). The Golden Amazon (again, definitely a character that feels like it’s just begging to have a pop culture breakout, even comic books rarely if ever have female supervillains this ruthless and over-the-top), The Mexican Fantomas (who absolutely deserves a better name than what I’m calling him here, because he’s incredibly awesome and leagues ahead of just being a knock-off). And of course my homeboy, The Grey Claw, whom I would consider Number One of the list if it wasn’t for the fact that his obscurity has left him untouched by copyright and I got plans of my own for the character that wouldn’t be possible if he was more well-known, so I guess I’m ultimately glad he’s obscure (even if I’m still bothered by how little he’s known).

Allright let’s go:

Number 5: Sheridan Doome

Sheridan Doome appeared in fifty-four stories and three novels from 1935 to 1943. As chief detective for U.S. Naval Intelligence, Lieutenant Commander Sheridan Doome’s job was a grim one. Whenever an extraordinary mystery or crime occurred in the fleet, on a naval base, or anywhere the navy worked to protect American interests, Doome was immediately dispatched to investigate it. Fear and dread would always precede Doome’s arrival in his special black airplane. For, in an explosion during WWI, he had been monstrously disfigured.

He was six feet two inches tall; had a chalk-white face and head. It appeared as though it had once been seared or burned. For eyes, he had only black blotches; glittering optics, that looked like small chunks of coal. His nose was long, the end of it squared off rudely. He had no lips, just a slit that was his mouth. His neck was long, as white and as bony as his face…. Sheridan Doome looked more like a robot than a human being. He was tall and ghastly; his uniform fitted him in a loose manner. Long arms hung at his sides; his face was a perfect blank. He had no control of his facial muscles; consequently, his countenance was always without expression, chalky and bony.

But behind the ugliness was a brilliant mind. Sheridan Doome always got his man. Before Sheridan Doome became a staple in the pages of The Shadow magazine, two Doome hardcover mysteries were written in the mid-1930’s by acclaimed hard-boiled author Steve Fisher (I Wake Up Screaming) and edited by his wife Edythe Seims (Dime Detective, G-8 and His Battle Aces). Age of Aces now brings you both books in one huge double novel, presented in a retro “flip book” style. This book is currently Out of Print.

I sadly don’t have any more information on the character other than this. The book is unavailable for me to acquire in any capacity, and the text above is taken from the Age of Aces website as well as Jess Nevins’s personal profile for the character. I’m not even sure if any of those 54 stories even exist anymore, since although he was published as a backup in Shadow Magazine, there doesn’t seem to be reprints of them anywhere, at least as far as I can find, and the original Shadow magazines have largely turned to dust by now.

A character who combines aspects of The Phantom of the Opera and The Shadow, whose adventures are set in a backdrop that can easily lead to ocean adventures? That’s like, what, three of my favorite things in the world combined. I really, really wish I could at least read the stories this character stars in, but as is, this description is all I can provide. Again, time really has been cruel to the pulp heroes.

Number 4: Harlan Dyce

This is another character I’ve only been able to learn about through Jess Nevins’s archives and have not been able to attain any further information on, which is sadly the case with a lot of pulp heroes that nowadays only seem to exist as footnotes in his Encyclopedia or records in libraries. I don’t post more about these characters because I really would just be copying the stuff he wrote without much to justify me quoting him verbatim, and I hate the idea of doing that.

I especially hate that in Harlan Dyce’s case though. Here’s his description

“Dyce had brains, taste, money, ambition, and a total lack of physical or spiritual fear. But—

“Dyce was thirty-three inches tall and weighed sixty pounds.

“That was all the world could ever hold against him. That was what had made the world, most of it, in all the countries of the world, stare at Harlan Dyce, billed in the big show as “General Midge.””

Harlan Dyce is a misanthropic and venomous private detective. He has an “amazingly handsome face,” and the aforementioned brains. But all anyone sees is his stature, and he hates that and turns his cold eyes and acid tongue on them.

The only person Dyce likes and gets along with (besides his dwarf wife, a former client) is his assistant, Nick Melchem, a six-foot tall former p.i.’s assistant with bleak eyes and a strong body. Melchem ignores Dyce’s stature and treats Dyce normally, which Dyce responds warmly to.

Dwarfs may be the single most maligned group of people depicted in pulp magazines, even more so than the Japanese in the war years or the Chinese during the peak of the Yellow Peril’s popularity. Evil dwarfs, murderous dwarfs, sexually depraved dwarfs, they are all loathsome, ugly cliches that are, sadly, the only instances you see of dwarf characters being represented at all, with the only ones who are awarded any measure of sympathy are doomed henchmen or tragic villains. Even outside of the pulps, the only other examples of heroic, protagonist dwarfs I can think off the top of my head are Puck from Marvel Comics and Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones.

I’m not gonna say Harlan Dyce is great representation because I’m not a little person and can never make that kind of claim for a group I’m not a part of, but Harlan Dyce may be the first time I’ve ever seen a dwarf character in pulp fiction who was not a villain or a murderous goon or a victim, but an actual person and a heroic protagonist, and that definitely counts for something. I’m not sure how popular this character was or could be if someone picked up the concept and ran with it (and I’m pretty sure he’s public domain), but I definitely think this is a character that should exist and should be popular.

Hell, this character has Peter Dinklage written all over it, give it to him. Maybe then he will get to play a smart, fearless, cynical, misanthropic but good-natured and heroic character in something where he actually gets to keep these traits until the show ends.

Number 3: Audaz, O Demolidor

Audaz is a Brazilian character who was created and published by Gazetinha, the same publishers of Grey Claw as well as properties exported from elsewhere like Superman and Popeye, and much like The Grey Claw, he is also completely unknown even here. I’ll get to Audaz more in-depth sometime but here I’m going to provide a quick summary:

Audaz, The Demolisher is a gigantic crime-fighting robot controlled and piloted by the brilliant scientist Dr. Blum, his close friend Gregor and the child prodigy Jacques Ennes, who pilot the giant robot from a massive laboratory inside it's head rather than a cockpit. He takes on a variety of ordinary human criminals, mad scientists, supervillains and invading armies, towering over skyscrapers and grappling with jets.

Audaz was created in 1939 by illustrator Messias de Melo, a year before Quality Comics's Bozo the Iron Man and 5 years before Ryuichi Yokoyama's Kagaku Senshi, and decades before the debut of Mazinger Z. Although he is not the first giant robot of science fiction, he is the first heroic giant robot piloted by human pilots, and thus the first true example of "mecha" fiction.

Number 2: Emilia the Ragdoll

This is another Brazilian character, although nowhere near as obscure as Audaz as even a cursory Google search can show. Although Brazil did not have a “pulp era” in the same way the US had, we’ve long gotten past the point of sticking to it as a definitive rule, and I’m including Emilia as a pulp hero because she’s a 1920s fantasy literature character who was created under a publishing company that released pulp stories, because she doesn’t quite belong in the mold of fantasy literature characters she takes after, and because I like her and if I was putting a bunch of pulp heroes together in the same story, I would definitely include Emilia in it. It’s not like she really has anywhere else to go, now that she’s public domain and she’s outlasted her franchise.

As you can tell by the above image, Emilia’s had a lot of variations over the years and that’s because the work she was created for, Sítio do Picapau Amarelo (Yellow Woodpecker Ranch/Farm), has become a major bedrock of Brazilian fantasy literature, one of the only works created here that you can find substantial information about in English if you go looking for it. Here’s some descriptions of Emilia’s character:

Emília is a rag doll described as "clumsy" or "ugly", resembling a "witch" that was handmade by Aunt Nastácia, the ranch's cook, for the little girl Lúcia, out of an old skirt. After Lucia takes her on an adventure and the doll is given a dose of magic pills, Emília suddenly started talking, and would never stop henceforth.

Emilia has a rough, antagonistic personality, and an independent, free-spirited and anarchist behaviour. She is rogue, rebellious, stubborn, rough and intensely determined at anything she sets her mind on, eager to take off on just about any adventure. She is often immature and behaves like a curious and arrogant child, always wanting to be the center of attention.

She is extremely opinionated even when she constantly and confidently mispronounces words and expressions. Her attitude often gets her into trouble, and she very often has to fight against the villains who attack her home on the Yellow Woodpecker Farm and mistreat her friends.

In the stories, Emilia often takes the role of a heroine who travels through different realms and dimensions, as the books include not only figures from Brazilian and worldwide folklore, but also several characters both real and fictional, such as Hercules, King Arthur, Don Quixote, Thumbelina, Da Vinci, Shirley Temple, Captain Hook, Santos Dumont and Baron von Munchausen.

She's fought scorpions and martians and nymph hordes, her arch-enemy is an alligator witch, she rescued an angel from the Milky Way and tried to teach it how to become a human, and once shrunk the entire population of Earth to try and talk the president of the United States into ending war forever.

To little surprise, she has become the most popular character and the series’s mascot.

It’s a little strange to consider Emilia underrated considering she is one of the most famous original characters of Brazilian literature, but hardly anyone outside of Brazil even knows who she is, and regardless of the quality of the original stories (and Monteiro Lobato’s views on race that tar much of his reputation), Emilia definitely feels to me like a character that should be a lot more popular globally.

She is the only character from Yellow Woodpecker Ranch that has transcended the original stories, since she was always the most popular character and there’s been a couple of stories written about her that usually separate her from the ranch and just set her out on the world by herself. The latest story about this character has been a series called The Return of Emilia, that’s about her stepping out of the books in 2050 and discovering a Brazil that’s been ruined by social and ecological devastation, and traveling back in time via a flying scooter in order to try and prevent this calamity.

Now that she’s public domain, I definitely think there’s some great stories that can be told with the character that just about anyone could get to, and I definitely think she’s a character that deserves more appreciation. Anything goes in stories starring her and it’s that kind of free-for-all freedom that I think can benefit future takes on pulp heroes. I would be very happy to place Emilia among them.

Oh yeah, and there was one time she kicked Popeye's ass by tricking him with a can of mouldy cabbage instead of spinach, making him sick and then beating him, which possibly puts her as one of the all-time badasses of fiction, except she would be pissed at not being number one and likely embark on a quest to beat everyone else just to prove she could, because that’s how Emilia rolls.

Number 1: Luna Bartendale, from The Undying Monster (1922)

Not necessarily my favorite of the bunch, but one who sort of epitomizes what you asked, a character who is both incredibly obscure and incredibly underrated in every sense. Despite the book being somewhat known, mainly thanks to the movie, the character is so obscure that I don’t even have an illustration of her to display here, not even fan art, just one of the book’s covers that I think best conveys it. Luckily, the book is also available freely online, so you can all go check it out here. The movie adaptation does not feature the character of Luna Bartendale which makes it pointless to talk about.

To not spoil it too much, The Undying Monster is a very fascinating book, ahead of it’s time in quite a few ways. You expect it to just be a detective story centered around a werewolf cursed, except the subtitle of the book is “The Fifth Dimension” and then it goes to talk about dimensions of thought and post-WWI trauma and love and hypnotic regression that travels through time and ancient runes and Norse mythology. It’s not exactly an easy book to get through in one setting, but I’d recommend it much the same if only because it’s got supersensitive psychic sleuth Luna Bartendale, literature’s first female occult detective, and she’s an incredible character who absolutely feels like she should have become a literary icon.

She lives in London but is world-renowned for her many good deeds. She is a small, pretty woman, with curly blonde hair, dark eyebrows and a high-bridged nose, and a slight build. She has a voice described as a light soprano that "does not make much noise but carries a long way".

Petite, bedimpled and golden curled, Luna is completely in charge of events, dominating every scene that she appears in with her welcoming disposition and cleverness.

Bartendale has various psychic powers, including mind reading. She is well-versed in psychic and occult lore, is a “supersensitive” psychic, and has a “Sixth Sense” which allows her to trace things and people through both the Fourth and the Fifth Dimension. (The Fifth Dimension is “the Dimension that surrounds and pervades the Fourth–known as the Supernatural”).

Her extensive knowledge of occult rites and practices puts John Silence, Carnacki and Miles Pennoyer to shame, and she beats them all with her "super-sensitive" gift of being able to psychically connect with troubled souls and hypnotize them.

She uses a divining rod for various tasks, including psychic detection and tracking, and distinguishing between benevolent and malevolent forces. She has various (undefined) powerful psychic defenses, can carry on seances, and can even cure a person of “wehrwolfism.” And she can always rely on her massive, intelligent dog Roska for help.

Luna sadly doesn’t show up in the book as often as I’d hoped, but everything about this character is so delightful. In a lot od ways she hardly feels like a pulp hero, at least the ones I usually talk about. She feels like a lost protagonist from an incredibly successful kid’s adventure series where a kind and eccentric detective witch and her giant dog go around solving occult mysteries and encountering all sorts of weird supernatural beings while counseling and helping people, like Ms Frizzle meets Hilda. Like this character is just waiting for Cartoon Saloon to make a film about her.

Its not so much “this character should/could be popular but it’s clear why that didn’t pan out”, it’s more me being confused as “why the hell isn’t she super popular? This character should have had a franchise ages ago, holy shit put her in everything””

#pulp heroes #pulp fiction #answer tag #sheridan doome #harlan dyce #audaz #boneca emilia #luna bartendale

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powerssquaredcomicbook · 5 years ago

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This Week in Powers Squared

It seems that no matter what the intentions might be, every week turns into a Powers Squared week. Sunday night, after I had published my last blog, we received pages from Rachel. These were jpegs before the tiffs. Our last chance to make any comments. We had none on the artwork, but we did exchange emails about the depiction of one of the characters. I won't go into who since she has yet to appear in the book, but it was good to come to an agreement. We got tiffs later on Monday. Monday got off to a start with information from the U.S. Copyright office. It seems like every time we file for copyright, there is something that we've done wrong. Now it takes something like half a year from the time we applied to when we hear if we've made a mistake. And when I asked for direction on how to avoid making the same mistake in the future, surprise, they didn't respond. However, we should get the paperwork shortly. This delay is something that people never tell you when they tell you to get something copyrighted. Now, I guess you could pay a lot extra to have it expedited, but that doesn't work for me. Just remember it takes about six months to get a copyright. On Tuesday, I got an email from another creator asking me questions about our print on demand service. He had good questions and I tried to give him my positive, but realistic assessment. Of course, I invited him to learn more about Powers Squared and, of course, he made no commitment to check us out. We also received four new pages from Nina, which we passed on to Trevor, however, I'm not expecting him to get right on them, since he had a fall on Monday and fractured his radius in his left arm near the elbow. He has his arm in a splint and a sling so he's slowed down, to say the least. The work can wait, of course. I also spent part of the Tuesday night listening to another installment of the List Launch, the podcast series that's supposed to help us build up our list prior to launching a Kickstarter. This was the reason behind our wanting to name our "fan base." We asked readers last week and, well, the response was underwhelming, to say the least. Despite that, we did decide to call the group "The Hound Dogs" and rename our newsletter, the Hound Dogs' Howl, after the fictitious newspaper of the community college the Twins attend in the book. Listening to it this time made me decide to update our banner image on social media, which we did on Wednesday, changing out the old image for one that's more dynamic and more reflective of our current books. Posting last week's Peek-of-the-Week on Instagram got more discussion than we normally get, which was nice. Hopefully, we can get that sort of interaction across other social media. We did receive more pages from Nina later in the week, on Friday. Everything was good but we did ask for a couple of changes in some of the colors. It's funny how important some things seem, like the color of a character's eyes. As usual, she made the changes very quickly, so no complaints here.

#This Week #Powers Squared #Comic book #copyright

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worldfootprints · 6 years ago

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When Andrea Marshall began studying manta rays in Mozambique in 2003 there was so little information about the species that she was forced to recommend them as “data deficient” on the Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, the go-to authority on endangered species.

A mere eight years later, in large part due to Marshall’s efforts and those collaborating with her, enough information had been amassed to show manta rays are a vulnerable species. The listing would eventually underpin conservation legislation and heightened management of these giant rays globally and Marshall’s role would lead to her nickname—“Queen of Mantas.”

Photo of Andrea Marshall “Queen of Mantas”.

Global Conservation Treaties

In addition to her work to put manta rays on the Red List, Marshall played an instrumental role in the campaigns to list manta rays on two of the most important global conservation treaties for wild animals: the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). These victories were not only historic but have helped to change the fate of these vulnerable manta rays across the globe. Currently, manta rays are listed as vulnerable to extinction. If trends continue, they could be extinct in less than 100 years.

Marshall first came to Mozambique, now one of the key locations for her research teams, to do some exploratory diving along the coastline. “The country had just opened up following its civil war, so it was a relatively unknown destination for diving. Having traveled extensively, I quickly recognized just how special this coastline was,” she said “For me, it was like the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean. There were so many large, iconic species living or transiting through this pristine coastline; animals like whale sharks, humpback whales, orca, turtles, dugong and, of course, many manta rays.”

Marshall, now 39, originally had her heart set on shark research, but soon realized she might be able to make a difference by trying to learn more about manta rays; a species that she saw was being overlooked and was being targeted by fishermen in Asia as sharks have been. “I began a study on the population here in southern Mozambique which quickly became the main focus of my PhD thesis.” Marshall became the first person in the world to complete a PhD on manta rays. As well as knowing, she could make a difference by studying them; she quickly fell in love with them. “They are the most extraordinary animals I have ever worked with. They are so trusting, social and, I believe, intelligent. It is such a privilege to work with an animal that doesn’t swim away from you, but wants to engage.”

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Hurdles Faced by being a Female Biologist

Like many female biologists, her journey has at times been difficult because she’s a woman. “In those early years I never felt entirely safe traveling solo and I was constantly faced with uncomfortable situations,” she said. “The thing that really bothered me though was not getting the respect I deserved just because I was a female. It can be really infuriating to be ignored, second-guessed or sidelined because of your gender.” Nevertheless, she stuck it out and thinks that when people saw her determination and the sacrifices she made, she gained their respect.

Her imoportant work almost didn’t happen. When she first arrived in Mozambique, she was 23 and – in her own words – “as green as they come,” which meant that many people tried to take advantage of her. “I definitely have an acute appreciation now of the challenges women face that men don’t even have to think about. I also have an incredible appreciation for field biologists and any conservationist working in Africa. This is not an easy place. It can be soul crushing. It is also the most incredible continent and we should be doing everything we can to protect it.”

Polluted Oceans

The hardest thing about her job is seeing the awful state our oceans are currently in. She sometimes swims through fields of plastic rubbish, littering the ocean surface. Fish markets too, filled with so many of ocean’s most iconic species, sicken her. “These creatures are butchered like pieces of meat or killed to be used in bogus Chinese ‘health tonics’ or other trinkets— it’s heartbreaking but it’s what inspires me to keep going.”

To help her work towards the protection of manta rays, she and her friend Dr. Simon Pierce co-founded a marine conservation organization in 2009, the Marine Megafauna Foundation. The charity envisions a world in which marine life and humans thrive together and scientists use pioneering research to educate global and local communities and inspire lasting conservation solutions that will help save threatened marine life.

A Ray of Hope in Funding Research

Along the way, Andrea also began running “Ray of Hope Expeditions,” a company she started with her husband, a pilot and wildlife cameraman, Janneman Conradie. The expeditions started as a creative way to fund costly international research programs.

“After struggling to fund our international fieldwork for years I suddenly had an epiphany. Our supporters clearly wanted to tag along on our expeditions to learn about what we do and experience and participate in fieldwork and conservation efforts.”

By allowing them to, she could reduce or even eliminate the exorbitant costs of boat charters for her research teams allowing her to put available funding where it is needed most. Developing this model allowed her to do her work more efficiently and affordably while giving people a more responsible, unique and inspiring way to travel.

Despite the manta rays’ worrisome situation, Andrea has hope that scientific knowledge and public support for ocean conservation can turn the tide and ensure their survival. “We are already seeing so many countries step up their protection of these animals. I know we can save them,” she said.

When I ask her the source of her incredible passion and indomitable spirit, she rattles off a quote from Robert Swan. “‘The greatest threat to the planet is the belief that someone else will save it.’” She’s also motivated by personal reasons. “I want to look my daughter in the eye one day and tell her I did everything I could to save our oceans.”

It’s clear that Andrea isn’t waiting for someone else to save the planet but we can all do our part. Check out the following websites about her work for more information on how you can too.

http://www.queenofmantas.com

www.marinemegafauna.org

http://www.queenofmantas.com/ray-of-hope-expeditions/

Andrea Marshall behind the camera in Mozambique. Photo courtesy of Marine Megafauna Foundation.

Queen of Mantas – One Woman’s Fight For a Threatened Species When Andrea Marshall began studying manta rays in Mozambique in 2003 there was so little information about the species that she was forced to recommend them as “data deficient” on the Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, the go-to authority on endangered species.

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patriciaanderson357-blog · 7 years ago

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How to Teach Coding in the Elementary Grades with Sam Patterson

Sam Patterson on episode 201 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Teachers don’t have to be experts or “geeks” to use coding to improve literacy, use higher order thinking skills, and excite students in their classrooms. Elementary and primary students can learn to code. For Hour of Code week this week, learn how you can go past the Hour of Code and use coding all year long!

Today’s sponsor: Metaverse is a free simple augmented reality tool. Students can program. You can also use and create breakout educational experiences. See coolcatteacher.com/ar or download the Metaverse app today.

Listen Now

Listen to the show on iTunes or Stitcher

Stream by clicking here.

Giveaway Contest

Programming in the Primary Grades Book Contest

Below is an enhanced transcript, modified for your reading pleasure. For guests and hyperlinks to resources, scroll down.

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Enhanced Transcript

How to Teach Coding in the Elementary Grades with Sam Patterson

Link to show: www.coolcatteacher.com/e201 Date: Monday, December 4, 2017

Vicki: Happy Hour of Code Week!

So we have Hour of Code, but do we stop there? And why do we even want to code?

Today we have Sam Patterson @SamPatue with us, author of mypaperlessclassroom.com, also a podcaster, does so many other things. But he’s also written a book, Programming in the Primary Grades, Beyond the Hour of Code. And do check the Shownotes. We’ll be doing a giveaway of his book.

Why code in the elementary grades?

So, Sam, why do we even want to code in the elementary grades?

Sam: It’s really kind of amazing. When I first heard about coding in the elementary grades, I was really put off by it. I got this picture of kids sitting in front of a screen, kind of not talking to each other.

But what I have found, as I’ve worked to find really meaningful ways to get programming into classes, is that there are apps and platforms out there to allow you to do meaningful programming activities at any grade level that connect to and extend existing coursework.

So I can take a worksheet that I’ve been doing with my first graders, convert it into a Scratch Jr. activity, keep the learning goals the same, but actually add another level of scaffolding and another level of cognitive complexity.

You can actually use coding to kind of lower the floor of an activity as well as raising the ceiling.

Use coding to lower the floor of an activity or raise the ceiling.

Vicki: OK. So this sounds like you have to be a geek. Do you have to be a geek to use coding to teach kids?

Sam: You don’t. You hardly have to know anything. All you have to be willing to do is have one part of your class that the kids might know more about than you do.

And that’s actually — that willingness to engage that uncertainty — has so much magic inside it, Vicki, because what happens when I teach coding…

Like, if I’m teaching the water cycle, I’m going to teach them all about the water cycle. They’re not going to go out and discover the water cycle somewhere, right?

But if I’m teaching how to use Scratch Jr., the Scratch Jr. app is designed to help people learn how to use it. So I don’t have to teach my kids everything.

Under-instruct and under-deploy.

I do what’s called under-instruct. I don’t tell them quite enough to get the thing done. Then I under-deploy. I have one iPad per two kids, so they’re working together on one iPad, figuring out the incomplete instructions.

Their experience of that is they are figuring out and discovering how this platform works, and then they’re sharing it with their classmates.

So oftentimes, I’ll give a little bit of instruction, then the kids figure something out, and you can actually see that thing they have figured out work its way across the room. Or, if it’s the audio recording function in Scratch Jr., you can hear it work its way across the room.

Vicki: So you’re pretty smart, and you’re pretty technical. Do you ever feel like your students know more than you do? And does it make you feel like you’re not a great teacher?

Sam: On the days where I’m doing things right, at least one of my students ends up knowing more than I do about something because I’m always learning brand new things.

And almost as soon as I learn a program, and try to bring it into class I put the kids in it. My feeling is if I have 23 kids in my room, and I’m trying to learn how a program works, I need all of them to also be working on it. Then we’re learning like 23 times faster.

It never makes me feel like I’m not a great teacher because I’ve learned that my role as the MakerSpace teacher is to help my students learn how they learn best, and to put them into situations that reward them for exercising their own learning tools and skills.

My role as a MakerSpace Teacher is to reward my students for exercising their own learning tools and skills.

Vicki: Obviously we can go to code.org to get started, but we want to get beyond the Hour of Code. You’ve talked about Scratch Jr.. Are there other apps or tools that you just love with kids in primary grades?

Sam: Scratch Jr. is my absolute favorite. As the kids get to second and third grade, going into Scratch makes a lot of sense. The reason I’m in love with Scratch and Scratch Jr. is because they’re both supported by universities. Scratch Jr. is a Tufts University project. Scratch is an MIT project. I’ve met the incredible really smart people behind both of these. Right? There’s nobody at the bottom, at the far back end of Scratch Jr. or Scratch, saying, “What can we do to make this a profitable model?”

That being said, there are a lot of really great programs out there. For my youngest students, my top three have got to be Scratch Jr., The Fooz by CodeSpark, and Kodable.

All three of those have, essentially, a language-free coding platform. My Pre-kindergarten students who are four can do meaningful coding on all of those platforms.

Vicki: Wow!

So what is the most remarkable thing you’ve noticed about your students as you started coding with them?

Sam: The most remarkable thing I’ve noticed about my students is that they want language.

My students want language.

Like, all of my young students want to be using language so much that if I take something like… I say, “Hey, let’s tell a story in Scratch Jr.. We’re going to start off on this piece of paper with four squares on it.”

They fill out a little storyboard. Then we go to Scratch Jr. and they compose the story in Scratch Jr. — very similar to what they would do on paper — I don’t have to ask them to label things, or to include dialog.

They’re immediately asking, “How do I spell this?” or “What do I do with that?” I can’t get through a coding lesson without putting a temporary Word Wall up so the kids know what language they can use, how it’s spelled, and that kind of thing.

So I’m always amazed with — even when I don’t approach it by saying, “Oh, let’s design a literacy-rich learning activity.” I’m always amazed by how much my students are ready to use language and eager to use language.

Vicki: Sam, what do you think are some of the most common mistakes that educators make when they start using coding with kids.

Sam: The number one mistake, and I know it’s the number one mistake because I made it… was trying to learn faster than the children.

Don’t pressure yourself to learn faster than your students can.

When I first learned Scratch, I said, “Oh! I’ll spend about a month noodling around in Scratch, learning how it works, and then I’ll bring it to my fourth grade students. And then I’ll figure out in a week, between Day 1 and Day 2, how to do everything for Day 2.”

But that was a really bad plan, Vicki.

Vicki: (laughs)

Sam: Do you want to take any guesses as to how quickly they burned through what I understood about Scratch from learning about it for a month?

Vicki: (laughs) What, a day? Two days?

Sam: Eighteen minutes.

Vicki: Oh no! (laughs)

Sam: We were 18 minutes into the class, and they’re asking me questions that I have no idea how to answer at all.

That’s when I realized that my model of trying to learn — that’s actually when I suddenly had a flashback to my “Learning in the Brain” physiology class, where they explained how the brain learns at different ages.

And I remember that children just learn faster than adults, period. So this was a losing proposition.

That experience really taught me that I needed to create challenges and experiences that allowed my students to discover the program, how it worked, without making it my responsibility to teach them everything about how it works.

So the learning goal isn’t, “We all have a Scratch program,” The learning goal is “We use Scratch to explore our understanding of this or that.” Right? That way, you can really keep it focused on process.

At the end, you can have a conversation about, “Hey, we were trying to use Scratch to build a version of Oregon Trail that was about the California Gold Rush. How far did you get? What were you able to do? What did you figure out?”

This was when I realized that — the second mistake is thinking you’ll get things done. Right? This was when I realized that not only can I not learn faster than the kids, but we don’t need to finish a game to have a complete experience when we’re working with code.

Not everything gets done.

Vicki: That’s hard.

Sam: It’s really hard! Because we’re used to everybody gets it done, everybody works, and we all take it home. Because we were about making that thing.

But when we’re about the process, then we’re going to rip through a number of these things and get like 80% done on a bunch of them. Then later on, we’re going to ask the students to choose what they’re doing. And we’re going to give them enough time to get it done.

That comes down to one of my biggest secrets about if you want to design a coding project.

I finally figured this out, Vicki. I wouldn’t want to say that you lie to the kids about the timeline, but I’ve taken to calling it the “Six Week Project in Nine Weeks.”

So you have the students write an outline of their project and what they’re going to do in that project for six weeks. Then you allow nine weeks for it on your calendar.

Then everybody actually finishes the six week project.

Vicki: Well, I just don’t think kids really understand how long it takes when they’ve never done it before. The whole prototyping and alpha testing and beta testing process. And, you know, kids aren’t really used to revising, are they?

Sam: Well, the great thing about coding is that it actually puts the students in the situation where they want to revise because they can see that it doesn’t work.

Vicki: Yeah.

Sam: I always felt like when I was asking them to revise, as their English teacher, they didn’t really believe me. They were pretty much convinced that I was just making more work for them…

Vicki: (agrees)

Sam: … because their perception was that paper they wrote was fine, and they don’t need to do any more about it. (Because they didn’t really care about it in the first place…)

Vicki: Sure.

Sam: Now, they have a program… like today, my fourth grade student were writing a program that would introduce themselves to others. They’re very interested in making sure that’s right, because it’s about them.

Vicki: Absolutely. OK, Sam. We have to finish up.

Why is coding important? Why participate in Hour of Code?

Could you give us a quick couple of sentences of encouragement for why coding is important and about getting involved in Hour of Code this week?

Sam: You bet.

Coding is important because it’s in our students’ lives already. They live in a world that is programmed. If we want our students to be empowered creators in this world, they need to know that the 3-D printer or that computer animation or that garage door opener are all things that they have the power to control.

As far as encouragement, with the tools that are out there, any teacher — no matter their level of of comfort and experience — can find a way to bring some code into class and really open up what’s going on in the class.

The best thing that changed when I brought code into my class was a different group of students rose to the top, as those that were most prepared to figure out the challenges of coding. It changed how my students treated each other.

Vicki: Well, teachers, get out there and enjoy Hour of Code.

I know that I will be. My night and tenth grade students will actually be planning coding experiences for all of the kids at our school, K-4 through sixth grade. So I’ll have a very busy weekend, posting those pictures to Twitter and Facebook.

I hope you enjoy it! It’s going to be a lot of fun!

Transcribed by Kymberli Mulford

[email protected]

Bio as submitted

Sam Patterson is a Makerspace Coordinator for Echo Horizon School. He has a doctorate in literacy education and he isn’t afraid to use it.

Blog: mypaperlessclassroom.com

Twitter: @SamPAtue

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

The post How to Teach Coding in the Elementary Grades with Sam Patterson appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

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athena29stone · 7 years ago