MINIS MIGHTILY MAGNIFY READER REFLECTION: A QUICK TIP

     Heroes and heroism is a common thematic unit in high school and middle school English classes.  Students are exposed to the exploits of Beowulf and Odysseus and Arthur.  Some teachers see this as a great opportunity to compare and contrast these heroes with famous heroes of comic books.  If this is the case with you, I would like to share a couple fun ways for students to demonstrate and defend reading comprehension using comic books and games. 

• Have students read a comic book, either in book form or online.
• Explain to the students how Heroclix superhero miniatures are statted:  numeric and textual explanations of their strengths and powers.
• Have the students stat out the characters they read about in their comic book of choice.
• (OPTIONAL) Students could get fancy by using this cool Heroclix Dial Generator.
• Have students defend each of their numeric stats and powers as they relate to the comic book they read.
• Reveal the real Heroclix stats for the same characters.
• Discuss which stats better reflect the actions and personalities of the characters in the comic book the students read.
• Students formalize their thoughts in a compare and contrast essay:  real Heroclix stats versus their own original stats. 

One of the great things about Heroclix is that there are hundreds of superheroes miniatures available, and they can be found at comic book and game stores sold separately starting at fifty cents to one dollar each. If you are willing to poke around, Critical Hit Magazine offers lots of these stats within its digital pages.

    This same assignment could be done using any roleplaying game that has superheroes statted out.  Instead of having to look up individual characters, all the teacher would need would be a game book. Here is a link to free pdfs of a classic of this sort, the old Marvel Superhero Roleplaying Game.

A BELATED DISPATCH FROM THE MEDIEVAL FAIRE: A QUICK TIP

     The first part of the bad news is that a pending rainstorm caused my family to leave The Great Lakes Medieval Faire early yesterday.  The rest of the bad news is that leaving the faire caused us to miss the combat chess show, but there is good news that came from our misfortune.  I was reminded of my use of old, classic games in my classroom, and I thought that these memories might make for a quick tip for using games in the classroom. 

     Teachers are always looking for fun reading assignments for students while also looking for tasks that are easy to assess.  These two desires have led me at times to pass out short handouts of rules for chess and other old games.   Students are supplied with everything they need to play the game they are learning through reading, and then I begin to patrol the classroom.  If the students have never played the game and are playing correctly, then their reading comprehension is looking good.  If not, then they need to revisit the rules.