The Superteacher Project
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The Superteacher Project by Gordon Korman is a fun middle grade novel in which several middle school students, primarily seventh grade, learn unexpecting bit of information about their most beloved teacher, Mr. Aidact. Told from the perspective of several of the characters, this novel is sure to be a hit with many middle school readers looking for engaging realistic fiction.
The story opens with Oliver Zahn’s perspective - a seventh grader with a love for “rule-wrecking.” He absolutely hates the nonsensical rules of his middle school and is determined to not only wreck the rules but record himself while doing so. One of his most favorite activities is spitballs and Mr. Aidact is able to catch one midair, Oliver realizes there is something off about this new teacher.
Nathan Popova is Oliver’s best friend and accomplice to most of Oliver’s rule-wrecking. Nathan, however, questions how he gets himself into most of the situations that he does, and he knows it is because he shouldn’t be listening to Oliver. One of their antics in the story is to ride a big wheel through the school during the school’s middle school halloween dance. While doing their stunt, it is Nathan who ends up breaking the school’s beloved field hockey trophy. The only solution - bury it. However, in the midst of attempting to bury it, it is stolen by high school students who think they are burying halloween candy.
Rosalie Arnette is a classmate of Oliver and Nathan’s. She is part of the school newspaper and decides to join the girl’s field hockey team to boost her resume. Unfortunately, her parents have divorced - somewhat recently from the textual clues. Rosalie’s mom is president of the PTA and is smitten with Mr. Aidact - trying to find opportunities to spend time with him. Fortunately for Rosalie’s mom, Mr. Aidact is the school’s field hockey coach. As you can imagine, the entire situation is awkward for Rosalie and when she finds out the secret of Mr. Aidact, she can’t hold it in. Her anger bubbles over.
Steinke Newhouse and Mia are two regular attendees at detention. Mia for often being late and Steinke for a variety of reasons tied to his oppositional defiant behavior. However, detention goes from the being the bore it is supposed to be to the happening place due to Mr. Aidact. Steinke and Mia both connect with Mr. Aidact in a way they have not with other teachers.
Other perspectives given in the novel is Principal Candiotti and Mr. Perkins (Mr. Aidact’s student teacher). As the reader can begin to put together before the characters - all the things about Mr. Aidact that are off and different add up to him being a robot - an AI robot created by the Department of Education. His name stands for “Artificially Intelligent Designated Android Classroom Teacher.”
The content of the story is primarily Mr. Aidact’s interaction with the students as he learns and becomes more involved and integrated into the school. The obvious middle school antics and behavior is present. Once the field hockey season begins and Mr. Aidact becomes the coach, a rising situation within the story is the girl’s run for becoming state champions. However, Mr. Aidact’s true identity is revealed to the community and parents ban their daughters from playing. Oliver has other plans and he works to get the game back on. The end of the game is used as their window to help Mr. Aidact escape before the Department of Education takes him back to D.C. to be decommissioned.
Noteworthy quotes/ mentions:
On page 6 there is a mention of the girls talking about how “good-looking” Mr. Aidact is.
A quote from Steinke Newhouse’s POV: “How can I ever explain it? I don’t argue just for the fun of it. I argue because everyone else is always wrong” (39).
There are several references to rappers as Steinke and Mr. Aidact repeat lyrics during detention.
On page 77 during the halloween dance there are mentions of “gyrating costumes.” and others also gyrating on page 86. There is another mention of the word towards the end of the book as well.
On page 98, Rosalie makes a comment about the other girls on the field hockey team focused on their appearance. “Most of the other eighth graders only care about how they look in their skorts and uniforms. They spend half their time posing for their boyfriends and other guys who hang around our practices.”
There is a mention on page 121 where Mr. Aidact and Steinke are present when Darryl is being screamed at by his father to train harder. “You can tell that his father is making him feel like a cockroach who gets stepped on and refuses to lie down and die”.
“Although Darryl and I aren’t friends, I rack my brain for a piece of advice that might help him. I may be below him in every way, but one problem I don’t have his a jerk dad” (124).
In a chapter from Perkin’s perspective, he shares a bit of the context for the AI Mr. Aidact and how he is learning from the students. From these encounters, he is becoming more middle school like in his behavior (Chapter 21).
“None of it was real. All those weeks–a lie. You build up a relationship with a teacher. And mind turns out to be an un-person” (211).
On page 227, Mr. Aidact realizes that people don’t like him because he is “different.” Despite how others are treating him, he is determined to be with the field hockey team until the end and doesn’t give up on them.
“Mr. Aidact cares about people. He cares about Stinky and Mia, and nobody cares about them. He waded through a river to rescue us [...] he did it because he wanted to [...]. You don’t get much more human than that” (234).
“Technically, he’s not a person. He’s their property” (243).
A comment by the principal on page 268 - “Kids aren’t burdened by the prejudices of their parents. And they came back to him one last time.”
Overall, not my favorite of Gordon Korman that I have read thus far, but certainly engaging and I could see middle school readers enjoying the story. There are some interesting opportunities for discussion about AI and AI robots. The students, towards the end, see Mr. Aidact as human; however, we know that no matter how advanced technology becomes, it can never replace true human interactions and the interactions between humans and their Creator. Given all the hype about AI and the way it is becoming ubiquitous, it is helpful to think through the consequences with our children about the use of it digitally and in the way of creating robots and self-automated cars. While the storyline is a fun thought in that direction, it also opens a unique opportunity for conversations with your reader about what it means to be created in God’s image and the importance of human connections.
