I’m at the end of my career, but I guess I had one last thing left to share.

Three years ago I found out a huge number of my students literally cannot picture things in their heads. When I say “imagine this,” their brain stays blank. Nothing. I’ve had classes where 20% of the kids are just sitting there in the dark.

It’s called aphantasia. It explains everything I’ve seen for three decades but never had the words to describe.

I have spent three years researching and searching for patterns with my kids who have it. My local audience isn’t moved by what I have found   So I wrote a guide to share with parents, teachers, and counselors. I also built a question translator. It takes those “picture this” questions and turns them into something these kids can actually use.

You can find it here: Nopictureneeded

I am open to feedback. Especially with the responses with the Question Translator. I am still actively working on it. The whole site is a work in progress. Again, open to feedback. I am a middle school teacher, I can take it.

Feel free to use this image – details

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Feel free to use this image – details

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Feel free to use this image – details

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Feel free to use this image – details

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A synopsis of the film from The Presentation Project:

The Mask You Live In follows boys and young men as they struggle to stay true to themselves while negotiating America’s narrow definition of masculinity.

There are great interviews with kids, teachers, academics, and coaches. It’s worth your time.

I think the great myth in America is that sports builds character.  Sports does not build character unless the coach intentionally teaches it and models it.  When I did start coaching I did not want to be a transactional coach using kids for my own identity. So I started with a simple philosophy, if you are going to be a transformational coach you have to know what you are transforming.  I coach to help boys become men of empathy and integrity who be responsible to change the world for good.  That’s what sport ought to be about. And we have a lot of work to do in our country.   — Joe Ehrmann

If you need a teaser to convince you to stop and try these, here you go (go full screen)!

First download this app Animal 4D onto your tablet or smartphone.
Apple
Android

While downloading app, print page 1 here (more here).  Instead of printing, you can simply just open the page on your laptop or desktop computer and use the image on the screen, but it is much better if you print the page.

Open app and hold your phone above the image you printed.

Follow the same instructions for the links below.  Make sure you have your volume up and poke around on the screen.  More pages for each app are available on the app’s home page…enjoy

Anatomy 4D
Apple
Android
Print page 2 and 3

Spacecraft 3D
Apple
Android
Print page 4 When you open app, you do not need to download the “marker.”  This page is the marker.

Zookazam
Apple ($0.99)
Android
Print page 5

Flashcards AR
Apple
Android
Print page 6 

AR Flashcards Space
Apple (with kid friendly adds, a paid ad free version is available)
Android ($o.99)
Print page 7

Quiver
Apple
Android
Print page 8 and 9  Grab some crayons and color in the picture before using it.  At the very least, just quickly color in a couple sections to get an idea of what will happen.

Elements 4d
Apple
Android
Print page 10 This app is aimed at Science teachers and it’s worth reading the “How it works” page to get the full effect.  You can just print the page and use it without folding it into a block to get an idea of how it works. The rest of the elements are here for you to print, fold, and combine.

Amazing Space Journey was just introduced to me at a conference last week and it’s pretty neat way of looking at the solar system (Apple, Android).  I haven’t messed around with it that much but so far, so good.  It does take a bit for it to load on my phone, the screen looks blank and you just need to wait 5-10 seconds for it to open.  When it opens it is not in AR mode.  You can manipulate what you see on the screen with your fingers, and change the screen with the sliders. In the corner you’ll see a tiny AR icon, click on it and scan page 11 to see the AR features.