Seeing With Magic Eyes

When my kids were younger and we scoured the shelves of our public library for new and interesting books more often, we came across a series called Magic Eyes.  Each page was a picture that looked like a colorful and abstract tessellation.  But if you trained your eyes to focus just right, a three dimensional image would "magically" pop out.  My mother was the best at it.  She would hold the book in front of her and cry "Wow!"  and "Wooh!", which would drive my daughter crazy because she couldn't see the hidden pictures.  I had to work at it, but when I figured out how to look in order to see the magic, it became easy to spot the hidden picture every time.

When I read Katherine Bomer's book Hidden Gems, I realized that seeing the brilliance in student writing also required "magic eyes".  First you have to believe that there is something there worth seeing.  You have to look at every piece of writing believing that there is a gem, a strength in there somewhere.  Then you have to train your eyes to look differently.  One trick I use to look at the Magic Eye books is I try to cross my eyes, which at first blurs everything and then suddenly I see the three dimensional image.  I have trained my eyes to look beyond the handwriting, the spelling, the lack of conventions in student writing.  That has helped me discover some fantastic writers in classrooms.