Escher vs Usher

In discussing semiregular polygramic tessellations today with Mr. K's 6th grade class I brought up the famous M.C. Escher. After all, he has done some great work with tessellations and I thought this might give the kids something tangible to hold onto in their attempt to understand the tessellation concept.


One problem. No one in the class knew who M.C. Escher was. For about 10 minutes I went on and on about how basic tessellations could become very complex and intricate. And then one of the students said, "I thought Usher just made music." That's when I knew I needed to take a step back. It took a while but I eventually explained the difference between M.C. Escher, the amazing early 20th century Dutch artist, and Usher, the modern R&B musician. While I think they now get the fact that there was a Dutch artists who often used tessellations in his work, they still refer to him has Usher. You can imagine their confusion though.

Escher...

Usher...

If only these kid's parents knew that their $13K a year was going toward only the finest quality education! I am not meant to be a teacher.