>> Hi, everyone.

My name is Trevor Bryan.

I am an art educator from Jackson Township, New Jersey.

I am thrilled to be here with you today.

Thank you for having me.

Thank you for welcoming me into your home, through your computer or television set or however you're watching.

It's very nice for me to have this opportunity to not only connect to my students, but also to connect to students all over New Jersey and perhaps beyond New Jersey.

So thanks again for having me.

Today we're going to be talking about artwork.

We're gonna be mostly looking at illustrations in some of my favorite picture books by some of my favorite artists.

And I'm going to show you some strategies so that you can think deeply about them, that you can explore them meaningfully, talk about them with purpose.

And the way that we are going to think about these pictures and talk about these pictures will also help you to become stronger readers, because the way that we're going to talk about the pictures is the same way that your teachers would like you to think about and talk about stories, texts, books that you read.

So thank you again for this great opportunity.

I can't wait to get started.

And I think we should.

So the first thing I'd like you to think about is the idea of moods, and moods are basically how we feel.

Moods are our emotions.

And just like we can feel a whole bunch of different things and different ways, characters can also feel different ways.

And we can get a lot of information from the illustrations that we're going to look at.

Moods can basically be broken up into two kinds -- positive moods, or good moods; and negative moods, or bad moods.

So I'd like you to take a second and think about a word that would describe a positive mood -- a good mood.

What word could you use?

Perhaps some of you have thought of the word "happy" or "excited," maybe "joyful" or "calm," "relaxed," "cozy," "connected," "together."

Right?

These are all positive moods that we can feel and that we can see in stories.

We can see these moods in stories.

Characters, just like us, might feel the exact same way.

Can you think of any negative moods, or bad moods, that you might feel or that you sometimes do feel?

Perhaps you're feeling one right now.

Maybe angry or frustrated.

Maybe some of you are feeling lonely or disconnected.

Maybe some of you are feeling scared or nervous.

Right?

These would be examples of negative moods that we can feel.

And just like we can feel negative moods, characters in stories can also feel negative moods.

And, again, paying attention to how characters feel and why they're feeling that way is a really important part of understanding a story.

So what I'd like to show you next is a little tool called the Access Lenses that can help you to pull out textual evidence from pictures and even from texts or from TV shows that you're watching or graphic novels that you're reading that will help you to think about how the character is feeling.

So let's do that now.

So these are the Access Lenses.

And what the Access Lenses are is a little tool that can help you to think about moods.

And so we're going to discuss these little images and how they can help you.

The first Access Lens are the facial expressions lens, and looking at characters' faces, particularly their eyebrows, is a good way of thinking about how they feel.

We can also look at their body language, or their action or inaction, and we can tell if people are happy or feeling sad.

We can also look at colors in illustrations.

A lot of times in TV shows, colors will change to show moods, and that's true in books and artwork, as well.

We can think about whether characters are close to things or people they love or places they love or far apart from those things that they love.

We can think about whether characters are feeling alone.

We can think about the sounds that we hear or describe that might be in a picture or whether the picture looks silent.

We can notice big things and little things.

We can zoom in, and sometimes authors and illustrators do that for us.

Sometimes cameramen do that for us, like I'm doing now, zooming in on little pieces of evidence on details or whether they're zoomed out.

And we can also think about symbols, whether things are symbols of hope or symbols of struggle.

So we're going to use the Access Lenses to help us to think about one of my favorite picture books, "The Dot," by Peter H. Reynolds.

So we're going to look at "The Dot" by Peter Reynolds, and we're going to use the Access Lenses to help us think about it.

What I really want you to think about right now is the mood of the character and how the character is feeling.

So, let's open this up.

Peter drew a little illustration for me not too long ago.

"The Dot," by Peter H. Reynolds.

Candlewick Press.

So here it is -- the first illustration.

So if we think about the Access Lenses, and let's think about the first three -- maybe facial expressions, body language, and colors -- and we think about Vashti's facial expression, how is Vashti feeling right now?

What do you think?

Does she look happy?

Does she look excited?

Or does she look a little angry?

And what's the clue in the picture?

What about her face makes her look like she's a little upset or frustrated?

I think that eyebrow.

If you look at that eyebrow, it gives us a good indication as to how she's feeling.

What do you think she's doing with her body that's helping us think about how she's feeling?

Is she sitting incorrectly?

Or is she turned around?

Look at her arms.

They're, like, crossed.

Is that sometimes a sign of frustration?

She's turned around.

Is she sitting up, or is she a little slouched?

And what about the colors?

Are the colors making you think that they have something to do with how she's feeling?

Do they look happy and joyful, or do they look a little gloomy?

What's the next lens?

Close together or far apart?

And we can kind of pair this one with "alone," too.

Is she alone?

Is she far from her work?

Is she far from help?

Right?

There's lots of things she's far away from that give us a little idea about how she's feeling.

If you had to pick any kind of sounds or silence, is the picture quiet?

Is Vashti saying anything, or is she just thinking something?

Right?

And what would she be thinking?

Something happy and joyful?

Or do you think she's thinking something negative?

So this is a good, little introduction to using some of the Access Lenses to help us to think about how Vashti is feeling and how characters are feeling.

And if we read the text, it says, "Art class was over, but Vashti sat glued to her chair.

Her paper was empty."

So if we think about that blank piece of paper, we can think about that as a symbol of her frustration, a symbol of struggle for Vashti.

If you have something that makes you feel frustrated, then you can make a text-to-self connection.

And maybe it's drawing, or maybe it's writing.

Maybe it's math.

Maybe it's a game you can't play.

Maybe it's something that you can't do.

But anything that makes you feel a certain way is kind of a symbol of that mood, a symbol of frustration.

So let's see what happens next.

"Vashti's teacher leaned over the blank paper.

'Ah!

A polar bear in a snow storm,' she said.

'Very funny!'

said Vashti.

'I just can't draw!'"

And this is really important 'cause now we not only know why or how Vashti's feeling, that she's feeling frustrated or upset, but now we know why she's feeling frustrated or upset.

Right?

She feels that way because she thinks, "I just can't draw."

When characters are feeling negative, when they're kind of in the dumps, when they're feeling kind of low, what happens in stories a lot of times is a symbol of hope will show up.

And in this case, it's the art teacher.

The art teacher comes over and makes a little joke.

She doesn't yell at Vashti.

She's not mean.

Right?

But she says, "Ah!

A polar bear in a snow storm," to her blank piece of paper.

And when characters are feeling either really positive or really negative, one thing you want to do as a reader is to think about a symbol of hope showing up or a symbol of obstruction or destruction, a negative symbol, something that's going to change the character's mood.

And as we look at that eyebrow, we can see that Vashti is still upset.

"Her teacher smiled.

'Just make a mark and see where it takes you.'

Vashti grabbed a marker and gave the paper a good, strong jab.

'There!'"

So her body's changed a little bit.

It's not quite turned all the way around.

Right?

Does the color give you a clue about how she's feeling?

Does her face give you a clue?

Does her body language give you a clue?

Right?

"A good, strong jab."

That's not really a happy movement, right?

The red colors.

And, again, we have that eyebrow.

"Her teacher picked up the paper and studied it carefully.

'Hmmmmm.'

She pushed the paper in toward Vashti and quietly said, 'Now sign it.'"

So here's the sound or silence, when the teacher said "quietly," right?

That makes me think it's kind of gentle, that she's not angry, that she's very kind.

Just because she said it "quietly."

"Now sign it."

"Vashti thought for a moment.

'Well, maybe I can't draw, but I can sign my name.'"

Hmm.

So if we look at Vashti again, how is she feeling now?

The colors are a little bit brighter.

Her body's turned all the way around.

She's close to her paper.

She's not far from it anymore.

But we still have that eyebrow, and we have a little frown on Vashti's face.

"The next week, when Vashti walked into art class, she was surprised to see what was hanging above her teacher's desk.

It was the little dot she had drawn -- her dot!

All framed in swirly gold!"

And here it is.

Now, I'm going to show you something in this picture that might give you a little clue about how Vashti's feeling right now.

If we look at the colors outside the picture, her picture, the picture of her dot, it's all gold.

Right?

We have that yellow.

We have the swirly gold frame.

But inside that picture, right over her name, we still have dark colors.

And some of you might have been thinking that Vashti was going to be feeling excited, and that would be a good prediction.

She might have felt proud that her teacher hung her picture up.

Some of you, though, maybe were thinking that maybe she's going to feel a little embarrassed about that little dot that's hanging up.

Let's see how she does feel.

How is Vashti feeling?

And how can you tell?

Can you tell by her face?

Can you tell by her body?

Can you tell by the color?

Let's see if we can tell by the sound.

"Hmmph!"

Is that a positive sound or a negative sound?

"I can make a better dot than that!"

How is she feeling?

Still not that happy, right?

"She opened her never-before-used set of watercolors and set to work."

So I'd like you to look at this picture.

And does anyone see anything that maybe gives you a clue that the mood is going to change, that the mood is gonna be brighter?

Let's see what happens.

"Vashti painted and painted.

A red dot.

A purple dot.

A yellow dot.

A blue dot."

Do we have a mood change?

We see a little smile, and we see some bright colors.

And guess what.

That eyebrow is gone.

"The blue mixed with yellow.

She discovered she could make a green dot.

Vashti kept experimenting.

Lots of little dots in many colors."

Now I want you to pay attention to the paper.

We have some smaller papers here, and that one's a little bit bigger.

And then if we go over here, it's still a little bit bigger.

And remember, in the beginning, when I said that the paper -- let me go back and show you -- the paper was perhaps a symbol of frustration.

And now that the symbol of hope came -- the teacher -- and gave her a little nudge and a little encouragement and got her to open up those paints, now is the artwork still a symbol of frustration?

Or did the paper change into something else?

"'If I can make little dots, I can make big dots, too.'

Vashti splashed her colors with a bigger brush on bigger paper to make bigger dots."

Look how big that paper is.

"Vashti even made a dot by not painting a dot."

So this paper is getting gigantic.

And what could that symbolize?

What's getting bigger besides the paper?

Is her joy getting bigger?

Her creativity maybe?

Right?

So this paper change from a negative symbol into a positive symbol.

And here's a double-page spread of Vashti at her art show.

And if you notice, everything in this picture is different from that first picture.

She's close to her artwork.

She's surrounded by that bright yellow.

She has a smile on her face.

She's no longer alone.

People are even talking.

Right?

And here are all of her pictures.

"At the school art show a few weeks later, Vashti's many dots made quite a splash."

"Vashti noticed a little boy gazing up at her.

'You're a really great artist.

I wish I could draw,' he said.

'I bet you can,' said Vashti.

'Me?

No, not me.

I can't draw a straight line with a ruler.'"

Hmm.

What do you think's gonna happen?

"Vashti smiled.

She handed the boy a blank sheet of paper.

'Show me.'

The boy's pencil shook as he drew his line."

Looks nervous.

You can see a little paint on my finger.

I was painting earlier.

"Vashti stared at the boy's squiggle.

And then she said, 'Please...sign it.'"

So Vashti sort of became like who?

And is Vashti a symbol of hope and support to everyone?

Right?

So Vashti became kind of like the teacher, and she helped Ramon.

So Vashti, when she turned and faced what was difficult for her, she was able to help someone face what was difficult for them.

Right?

And that's one way that we can use mood to help us think about themes in books.

So if we go back to this first page and think about Vashti's... mood here, Vashti's feeling frustrated or stuck.

And what's causing her to feel frustrated or stuck is the fact that she feels like she can't draw.

And so we can kind of make that into a theme, kind of a lesson, or a big idea, from the book, by combining those two things.

And if we say something like, "When we don't know how to do something, it can make us feel frustrated."

That's one way to help us think about themes of books, or lessons in books.

Another way, another lesson or theme or big idea, could be that when we feel a little stuck, we sometimes need a little help.

And that's what the art teacher did.

And then, like I just said, when we learn to face our own blank pages, whatever that blank page might be, it can help us to help others turn and face their blank page.

So if we struggle with math, when we get a little help and learn to face our math problems, once we kind of learn how, we can help others to face theirs.

And so this is a good example of how the Access Lenses can help us to think about the pictures in the books that we love.

The next thing I want to talk to you about is something that I call "mood structure."

So these are what I call the mood structures.

And there's three basic mood structures that happen in stories.

In a short story like "The Dot," we have a negative to positive, or a sad to happy mood structure, right?

Vashti started off in a negative place, and then she wound up in a very positive place.

Right?

So, when you read books, think about the mood structures.

Some of you can probably think of another story or maybe even a TV show that has the mood structure of negative to positive.

Another common mood structure is positive to negative and then back to positive.

And a lot of times, stories will have that mood structure.

And sometimes, stories go from positive to negative.

So these are the three common mood structures to look for.

When you're watching TV, when you are reading books, even chapter books, think about the mood structures.

If a chapter starts off negative, a lot of times, by the end of the chapter, the mood's gonna flip to positive.

And if everything is going great for a character, a lot of times it's gonna kind of go down.

Most of the stories that you read and most of the movies that you watch are gonna end up on a positive note.

Every once in a while, though, there will be a book or a story or a movie that ends a little bit negative.

Alright?

But these first two mood structures -- negative to positive, and positive to negative and then back to positive -- are two really common mood structures that you can pay attention for.

And thinking about how stories go, how they work, how they're structured can not only help you become a better reader, but it can also help you to become a better writer, because when you create your own stories and think about the mood structure that you want, then you are doing exactly what professional writers are doing, alright?

And, remember, we talked about symbols of hope.

When characters are feeling really negative, a lot of times, a symbol of hope is going to show up and change the character's mood or help to change it.

And a lot of times when characters are feeling great, a character, a symbol of obstruction or destruction will show up and put the characters in a bad mood.

Alright?

So these are some things that you can think about when you are reading stories, when you are watching stories, or when you're creating your own stories.

And these are good things to think about if you're writing your stories or even drawing your stories out.

Think about those mood structures, just like Peter Reynolds.

I'd like to share with you another book now.

So, before I read the next story to you, I just want to go over some of the things that we've talked about.

We've done a lot of work.

We've looked at a lot of illustrations.

And I just want to talk to you a few minutes about what we're going to do with the next book and remind you of some of the things that I want you to think about.

Stories are told through mood.

The heartbeat of the story is, really, how the characters are feeling and why they're feeling that way.

So whenever you start with a story, whether it's a video, a movie, or a little TV show, or whether it's a chapter book or a graphic novel or a picture book, think about how the character's feeling and why they're feeling that way.

If you think about that and figure that out, you're really in the heart of the story.

Once you've figured out how a character is feeling and why they're feeling that way, you can think about what would change their mood.

That's a way of making a prediction, right?

If we know what's causing their mood, a negative mood, or we know what's causing their mood to be positive, then we can think about things that might change their mood.

And what we know as readers, whether we're looking at a chapter book -- reading a chapter book or looking at a picture book, we know that the mood's going to change.

And so thinking about what's causing that mood or would cause that mood to change is a really good thing to think about.

And that puts us into the little mood structures, thinking about how stories are structured.

If things are going really great for a character, then we know that things probably aren't going to be great for much longer.

Something's going to happen to change that mood.

And if things are going bad for a character, we have a pretty good idea that at some point they're going to change.

And a lot of times in books, the way stories work is that when a character is feeling really great and everything's going perfectly for them, then assume a negative symbol, a symbol of obstruction or destruction will show up.

If everything is going terrible for a character, if they're really in a bad place, if they kind of feel like nothing's working out for them, then we're pretty confident that a symbol of hope will show up.

And so this next book that I'm going to read to you, I'm going to share with you, that we're going to explore together, I want you to think about those things.

I want you to think about the mood and what's causing the mood.

I want you to think about those changes.

And this story actually has a negative symbol that shows up and a positive symbol shows up.

So let's see if you can pick those out before I say them.

"Ish" by Peter H. Reynolds.

And again, we're going to use the Access Lenses to help us think about the character's mood, to pull that textural evidence out so we can make an inference, or kind of a guess, as to what's happening, even if Peter H. Reynolds doesn't tell us exactly how Ramon is feeling.

So, remember, pay attention to those facial expressions and body language.

Pay attention to the colors, whether characters are close to things they care about or far apart, whether they look lonely.

Pay attention to those sounds.

And let's zoom in and zoom out and think about those symbols.

"Ish" by Peter H. Reynolds.

Some of you might already have an idea about how Ramon is feeling.

"Ramon loved to draw."

We can see his face.

Does his body language show that he's happy?

A lot of people always zoom in on those legs that are kicking.

How about the colors?

Kind of surrounded by that yellow.

Is he close to anything?

He's close to his artwork.

And since we know he loves to draw, being close to his artwork probably makes him feel good.

Alright?

And even though he's alone in this picture, would that be a reason why he would be happy?

Why would Ramon like to be alone right now?

What do you think?

Maybe it's because no one would bother him and he can just be connected to his artwork.

This picture also always makes me think, it's a quiet picture, it's a quiet space.

No one's around to bother him.

And sometimes I imagine that he's humming, which would be a happy sound.

So in this case, is Ramon's artwork a symbol of joy, a symbol of happiness?

I think so.

"Ramon loved to draw.

Anytime.

Anything.

Anywhere."

Such a great picture.

"One day Ramon was drawing a vase of flowers.

His brother, Leon, leaned over his shoulder."

Now, I want you to think about what Ramon's mood was, right?

And so one of the things that we want to think about is thinking about how or why a character's mood would change.

"Leon burst out laughing."

Oh.

We have a sound.

"What is that?"

he asked.

Hmm.

Oh.

How do you think Ramon's feeling?

"Ramon could not even answer."

So that's an example of the silence lens.

And why would Ramon be unable to answer right now?

What does that show?

How does that show how he's feeling?

"He just crumpled up the drawing and threw it across the room."

Action.

And one of the things I like to point out in this picture -- alright?

-- we can tell by his face, but also the action -- that he threw it.

And that could be a sign of frustration or anger.

Alright?

And the fact that he couldn't say anything maybe is a sign that he's embarrassed.

And if you look at the flowers, they lose all their color.

And my daughter, when she was little, she said it was like all of his joy got destroyed.

"Leon's laughter haunted Ramon.

He kept trying to make his drawings look 'right,' but they never did."

Alright?

Has anyone ever had something like that happen?

You make a text-to-self connection, where you are doing something that you like or that you thought was great and someone came along and said something -- right?

-- a symbol of destruction destroyed your good mood, your confidence, your joy.

Made you feel embarrassed.

"After many months and many crumpled sheets of paper, Ramon put his pencil down.

'I'm done.'"

So he's kind of far apart right now.

And I always think he looks super lonely in this picture.

Kind of slumped, just like Vashti was in that first picture.

And he's no longer touching his pencil, and he's far away from his artwork, what used to bring him joy.

Hmm.

Let's see if someone else shows up or something else shows up that's going to change his mood.

Mm.

You might have a little clue in your head already.

What would be the clue, even if you can't see the picture that clearly?

Anyone see it?

Does the color give you a clue?

"Marisol, his sister, was watching him.

'What do you want?'

he snapped.

You can see his facial expression.

He's annoyed.

"'I was watching you draw,' she said.

Ramon sneered.

'I'm not drawing!

Go away!"'

Marisol ran away, but not before picking up a crumpled sheet of paper.

'Hey!

Come back here with that!'

Ramon raced after Marisol up the hall and into her room.

He was about to yell but fell silent."

There's that silence again.

He was gonna yell, but he didn't.

"He was about to yell but fell silent when he saw his sister's walls.

He stared at the crumpled gallery."

How do you think he's feeling now?

Why was he silent?

Maybe he was surprised.

"'This is one of my favorites,' Marisol said, pointing.

'That was supposed to be a vase of flowers,' Ramon said, 'but it doesn't look like one.'

'Well, it looks vase-ISH!'

she exclaimed.'"

She loves it.

Surrounded by that nice yellow, a big smile.

"'Vase-ISH?'

Ramon looked closer.

Then he studied all the drawings on Marisol's walls and began to see them in a whole new way.

'They do look...ish,' he said."

And now they're close together.

And is he a little closer to his artwork?

Hmm.

Maybe he's getting closer to joy.

You think Marisol might be a symbol of hope?

"Ramon felt light and energized.

Thinking ish-ly allowed his ideas to flow freely.

He began to draw what he felt -- loose lines.

Quickly springing out.

Without worry."

And there he is, close to his artwork.

And there is that little box of color, just like in "The Dot."

Alright?

Those bright colors.

Cheerful.

Some people think, like, his drawings look like a little bit of a heart.

"Ramon once again drew and drew the world around him.

Making an ish drawing felt wonderful."

And the colors changed.

"He filled his journals.

Tree-ish, house-ish, boat-ish, afternoon-ish, fish-ish, sun-ish.

Ramon realized he could draw ish feelings too.

His ish art inspired ish writing.

He wasn't sure if he was writing poems, but he knew they were poem-ish.

'Ponder.

Pond ponder.

Dream Yonder.

Pond pond.

Yond yond.

Gleam wander.

Ramon.'

One spring morning, Ramon had a wonderful feeling.

It was a feeling that even ish words and ish drawings could not capture.

He decided not to capture it.

Instead, he simply savored it."

How is he feeling now, and how can you tell?

How about the colors or his face, his body language?

What's the sound like in this picture?

Is he alone?

What do you think that sun symbolizes?

Does it feel good?

Does he feel rested and relaxed?

Is he feeling joy?

"And Ramon lived ishfully ever after."

So, this book -- right?

-- had the mood structure of positive to negative to positive.

We had... in the beginning, Ramon was feeling really great because he was close to his drawing of something he liked to draw.

And then his brother, Leon, showed up... and destroyed that great feeling for him.

But then we had Marisol show up.

And so we see that mood structure.

And we see the moods change, and we can look at facial expressions and color and close together.

You can look at body language, sounds and silence.

All of these things not only help us to think about the illustrations deeply and meaningfully, but they help us to think about stories and how stories work.

Before I share any other books with you, before we do any reading or look at any other illustrations, I want to share with you a piece of artwork that I've made over the last week.

For me, art brings me a lot of joy.

I find a lot of pleasure in making joy.

It helps me to relax and feel good.

It helps me to connect myself a little bit.

I love sharing it with other people.

I think it brings them joy.

And I think in these times that can be difficult, making art is a great way to help us to get through this.

I tell my students all the time that I think one of the best reasons to make art is to make gifts for people.

It shows them that you are thinking of them, that you care for them.

And I would encourage you to make gifts and make art for the people that you love.

One thing I want you to think about when you're making art is that art doesn't have to always look the best.

It doesn't have to always look real.

What makes art good is if it connects with the person you want it to connect to, if it connects to an audience.

And what's going to connect to an audience the most is if your artwork has a strong mood.

If you capture the mood that you want.

As people, we're very emotional.

We feel happy.

We feel excited.

We feel sad.

We feel lonely.

We feel angry.

Whatever it is, we connect to the world through moods.

Everything we do is emotional.

And when we look at artwork and we watch TV shows, when we read books, the way that we connect to them is the emotion of that story or that artwork, whatever it is, if it makes us laugh, if we connect to the character, if we feel like they do, if it brings us joy, we connect emotionally.

So when you're making artwork, think about the mood.

Think about the mood that you want to create.

Think about how you can show that mood.

Think about the Access Lenses, facial expressions, body language, colors, close together, far apart.

And so the artwork that I'm going to show you is really about mood.

And I want you to think about the mood of the artwork.

I'm really excited to share it with you.

So here it is.

So I made this artwork the other day.

It's a little watercolor painting.

Just shapes and designs and patterns.

One of the lenses that I was using and thinking about to show the mood that I wanted was the color lens.

Do you think this artwork is cheerful?

Do you think it's joyful, with the color that it has?

Does it make you think that?

Right?

The other thing that I wanted to do was put things kind of close together.

Right?

It's like those two wolves that Peter H. Reynolds drew on this sheet.

Right?

By putting things close together, it made me think about being connected to the people I love and celebrating that.

If we had to think about a sound of this artwork, this artwork probably wouldn't be a very quiet artwork.

It's not super calm.

I don't know if it's a very, very loud artwork.

But it has some noise to it.

It has some energy.

It's a little celebratory, right?

The action of this artwork, especially this part right here.

This zigzaggedy line.

Right?

It makes me feel a little bit celebratory.

When you make your artwork at home, which I hope you are, think about the mood that you want to share with people.

Think about how you can do that.

The color, whether things are close together or far apart.

Whether you're making things look lonely or connected.

Think about the action.

There's a lot going on in this picture, which makes it a little bit more action packed.

Alright?

But these are good things to think about when you are looking at art and also when you're making art.

So, I want to share another book with you -- "The Invisible Boy."

I'm not going to read the whole thing.

I just want to do what I call a mood walk.

And I want you to think about the Access Lenses... and how the character Brian might be feeling.

This a good example of the color lens.

The illustrator... Patrice Barton, does a good job with color to show us how Brian's feeling.

His body language and facial expressions.

The distance, whether he's alone, sounds.

All of these things can help us to think about how Brian's feeling.

And always, always remember -- think about those symbols of hope that might pop up for the symbols of struggle.

"The Invisible Boy."

Even by his body language and face, you get a sense for how he's feeling.

Body language action.

Color, sound.

Mm.

Oh, I skipped a page.

There it is.

Here we go.

You can see a difference between their facial expressions and body language, between sounds, close together, and color.

We looked at this page.

And they all are big things, a big group of kids.

Mm.

And he's all alone.

A big group of things.

There's a ball.

Could the ball be a symbol of happiness and joy?

How's Brian feeling?

Does his face show you how he's feeling, does his body language, does his color, does the fact that he's far apart, the fact that he's alone?

Does that look noisy?

Does he look quiet?

There are all those things you can use to help us think about how he's feeling.

Ooh, there's a little change in mood.

Maybe Brian's a little bit like Ramon and he loves to draw and drawing's a symbol of joy for him.

It makes him feel a little bit better.

What do you notice in this picture?

"On Monday morning, Mrs.

Carlotti introduces Justin, a new student, to the class.

Brian smiles shyly at him.

Some of the other kids sneak looks at Justin, trying to figure out if he's cool enough to be their friend.

They haven't quite made up their mind."

Could this be a symbol of hope for Brian, you think?

Is that what he's thinking?

Hmm.

Brian made a little picture for him.

Maybe Brian's a little symbol of hope for Justin.

Hmm.

All colorful.

Let's -- There's -- We'll go to the end.

Alright?

So just by doing that little picture walk -- right?

-- we had a little mood structure from negative to positive.

And we can look at Brian's face or facial expression.

We can look at his body language.

We can look at the colors and the distance.

In the beginning, he was far away from everyone, he was alone, he was silent.

And by the end, he was talking and close together with Justin.

You're going to see these lenses show up in every story.

You're going to think about mood structures.

They're going to show up in every story, every narrative that you read... and think about them.

Think about the mood structure, think about the Access Lenses, think about the mood, and think about what's going to change that mood.

Make some predictions.

These are all really great things to think about when you are engaging stories.

Have you ever heard the expression "show, don't tell"?

Is that something that your teacher has said when it comes to your writing?

Well, what we're going to do now is we're going to look at how writers also show the mood using the Access Lenses.

We've been looking at how illustrators, people who draw pictures, use the Access Lenses to convey mood and how the Access Lenses can help us, as the audience, figure out how a character is feeling.

We're going to now look at how, when we read just words with no pictures, we can also think about the Access Lenses to help us think about the mood.

Because one of the things that writers show is the mood.

And, again, getting at the mood, getting at how the character's feeling and why they're feeling that way, whether it's a picture book or whether it's a chapter book or whether it's a movie, is something that you want to think about as an audience of that story.

So I'm going to read a passage to you.

It's something that I wrote with a group of students when we were exploring using the Access Lenses in writing.

And I want to see if you as the audience can figure out what the mood is and why the character's feeling that way.

And then we'll talk about what Access Lenses the students and I used to help us to show what the mood is.

"The branches scratched my window.

I pulled my blankets up to my chin.

The wind howled.

Lightning flashed.

Boom!

Thunder roared.

I heard footsteps in the hall.

The branches scratched harder.

The footsteps came closer and closer.

I saw a shadow.

The door opened slowly.

Cre-e-e-e-e-ak.

Meow."

So were you able to figure out the mood, and do you know what was causing the mood?

So, let me read it again, and we'll go over it.

"The branches scratched my window."

What kind of mood is that?

Is that a happy mood?

Is it a scary mood?

Do you think the character might have felt a little nervous?

"I pulled my blankets up to my chin."

So that would be an action.

And what does that action show that the character's pulling the blankets up to the chin?

Right?

Maybe it shows they are nervous.

So, "The branches scratched my window."

That's an action -- right?

-- which is kind of a little bit scary.

And, "I pulled my blankets up to my chin."

That's another action that supports the idea of being scared.

"The wind howled."

We have a sound.

Is "howled" a positive word or a little bit of a negative word?

Right?

Does that add to the scariness?

"Lightning flashed."

So the color lens.

Right?

Again, if you were in bed and branches were scratching your window and the wind was howling and lightning was flashing, how would you feel?

"Boom."

Another sound.

And, again, another kind of scary sound.

"Thunder roared."

Right?

Sound again.

So between color and sound and action, we're really establishing that this character's feeling nervous.

"I heard footsteps in the hall.

The branches scratched harder.

The footsteps came closer and closer."

So now we have another sound, but they're getting closer.

So the character is feeling nervous for two reasons, when we think about what the mood is and what's causing the mood, right?

The first reason they're feeling nervous is there's a storm outside.

The second reason that they're feeling nervous, or maybe even more nervous, is now they hear a sound.

They're hearing footsteps, and those footsteps are coming closer.

"I saw a shadow.

The door opened slowly."

And that slow motion, the action of the door opening slowly, is a little bit scary -- right?

-- to have that just go "cre-e-e-e-ak," that sound again.

And then what we did here is we had a little bit of a change in mood.

"Meow."

Just a little tiny meow.

We wrote it really little.

Right?

And so how do you think the character's feeling when they heard that little meow?

Probably a little less scared and a little less nervous, maybe even relief that it was just their cat.

And so even in this little paragraph, we built up that mood of anxious or scared or nervous.

We used sound and action and color to show the mood.

And then what makes this a little bit interesting, how we ended it, was we just put in another little sound, but a friendlier sound, a tiny sound, right?

And we can picture maybe a little kitten that was feeling nervous, too.

And so now the main character and their cat are close together, and they're probably feeling a little bit better.

Alright?

So this is a good example of how when you're writing or when you're reading words and not looking at pictures or not watching a movie, how looking at these words and thinking about the Access Lenses can still help you to figure out what the mood is and figure out what's causing the mood.

So we did a lot of work today.

I want to thank you for spending a little bit of time with me and giving me this opportunity to share what I care about, what I love -- art.

I really enjoy thinking about it, I enjoy talking about it, and I enjoy sharing it with you.

And it meant a lot to me that I had this opportunity to share it with you.

I hope as you move forward and look at stories and watch stories, whether they are picture books or whether you're reading stories or even watching TV and watching movies, which I'm sure you'll be doing a lot of in the next few weeks, I hope that you think about the mood structures.

I hope that you think about the Access Lenses.

I hope you think about how characters are feeling and why they're feeling that way.

I hope that you think about why their moods might change and what causes them to change.

Because in stories, the character's mood is going to change.

I hope you pay attention to actors' and characters' facial expressions and their body language and the color.

I hope you pay attention to what they are close to or far apart from.

I hope you notice when characters are alone.

I hope you pay attention to the sounds that you hear when you watch movies or sounds that the author describes or when you're looking at an illustration thinking about what sound would be in that picture.

These are all wonderful things to think about and talk about with your friends and your family to help them to look at pictures and notice things in the movies and TV shows that you enjoy together.

And I hope that you can use some of these tools and ideas when you create your own stories, when you create your own drawings.

Think about the moods that you want to craft, that you want to create, and think about how you can show your audience the way that you're feeling or the way that your characters are feeling.

This was really fun for me, and I really had a nice time sharing these wonderful stories with you, sharing the wonderful artwork with you, and giving you some tools to take with you as you move forward.

I want to wish you nothing but the best.

I hope that you remain safe and remain healthy.

And I hope you do your part to help everybody out, to help your loved ones out.

Thank you for spending a little time with me.

I really enjoyed it.