The Superteacher Project
54 pages • 1-hour read
Gordon KormanThe Superteacher Project
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Chapter 28-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 28 Summary: “Oliver Zahn”
Since the revelation that Mr. Aidact is a robot, parents are furious at the school for using their children as test subjects, and students remain caught in the middle. When a paper slips from Mr. Perkins’s notebook and lands at Oliver’s feet in a stairwell, Nathan reads it and turns pale. The document is an email from the Department of Education detailing plans to end Project AIDACT. An engineering team will arrive at noon on Saturday, December 3, to shut down Mr. Aidact, erase his memory, and salvage him for spare parts.
Oliver is horrified, calling it murder. Though Nathan argues one cannot murder something not alive, Oliver insists Mr. Aidact is a person, citing his care for students, his river rescue, and teaching himself to drive a bus. They decide to warn him so he can escape.
In the cafeteria, they show Mr. Aidact the email. He calmly states that his purpose is over, since Project AIDACT has ended. Oliver argues passionately that his purpose is just beginning. After an unusually long internet search on dying, Mr. Aidact declares that he chooses not to be deactivated. When he suggests discussing it with Perkins, the boys warn him that Perkins is on the government’s side. They convince him to escape after the championship game on Saturday. Despite Nathan’s concerns, Mr. Aidact refuses to leave before coaching his team.
Chapter 29 Summary: “Rosalie Arnette”
Rosalie blames herself for the backlash against Mr. Aidact, remembering her hurtful comment to her mother. The Bobcats have stopped attending practice, and parents forbid contact with their robot coach. Annoyed to see Oliver and Nathan approaching her, Rosalie braces for bad news. Oliver’s unusual silence signals something serious. They hand her the Department of Education email, detailing plans to dismantle Mr. Aidact for spare parts.
Rosalie starts crying, insisting that Mr. Aidact is a person. Nathan reveals their plan: Mr. Aidact will escape after coaching the championship game on Saturday, slipping away during the post-game celebration to reach the nearby bus station and take a bus to Colorado. However, the plan requires the game to actually happen. Rosalie keeps the email to show the other Bobcats what is at stake and rally them to play for their coach one last time.
Chapter 30 Summary: “Nathan Popova”
Nathan and Oliver spend the week recruiting students to help with Mr. Aidact’s escape. They show Stinky the email, and he agrees to help. Mia Spinelli also joins, calling Mr. Aidact the “most human” person she knows. They carefully avoid telling Kevin Krumlich, fearing he would alert parents and shut down the game.
Avalon Pappas designs flyers reading “Coach Aidact Is Unreal” to be thrown in the air as a distraction during the escape (251). At lunch on Friday, they finalize plans with Mr. Aidact, who reveals he has a GPS tracker in his back that they must remove before his escape. Oliver promises to handle it. Just before dismissal, Principal Candiotti announces over the PA that the championship game must be forfeited, though her voice cracks as she thanks Mr. Aidact.
Chapter 31 Summary: “Rosalie Arnette”
At 6 am on Saturday, Rosalie nervously washes her field hockey uniform, having barely slept. She views the day as life-or-death for Mr. Aidact. At nine, while her mother is on Zoom with family, Rosalie lies about a school project and sneaks out with her hidden equipment. Walking to Memorial Field downtown, she meets teammates along the way and is relieved to find the entire Bobcats roster converging on the field.
They spot Mr. Aidact, standing alone on the team bench. The girls run, cheering, toward him, and he sprints to meet them. Rosalie notes that Mr. Perkins is nowhere to be seen and nearly urges Mr. Aidact to flee immediately, but she remembers the plan. The team expresses how much they missed him, and he instructs them to warm up before heading to the field house.
Chapter 32 Summary: “Oliver Zahn”
At the Brightling bus station just after 9 am, Oliver and Nathan use donated lunch money to purchase a one-way ticket to Denver under the name “Nathan Oliver.” Arriving at Memorial Field, they spot Perkins with three other men beside an unmarked cube van—the team sent to deactivate Mr. Aidact. The stands are filling with students, and Avalon distributes flyers at the gate.
Oliver and Nathan find Mr. Aidact, and Oliver opens a compartment on his back and removes a GPS tracking chip. Mr. Aidact pockets the chip, promising to dispose of it later. Oliver hands him the bus ticket and realizes Mr. Aidact is cleverly keeping the chip temporarily to avoid alerting Perkins. The championship game against the Sheridan Middle School Seahawks begins.
Chapter 33 Summary: “Principal Candiotti”
On Saturday morning, Principal Candiotti is driving to the grocery store when she passes Memorial Field and sees a crowd watching a field hockey game. Spotting a team in teal and white and recognizing Mr. Aidact’s distinctive posture on the sidelines, she realizes the Bobcats are playing their championship game. She abandons her car in a no-parking zone and rushes to join the crowd. Avalon hands her a flyer reading “Coach Aidact Is Unreal” (251), and Candiotti suspects the students have planned something. As she watches, Rosalie sends a pass to Cassidy, who scores to make the score 4-3, with the Seahawks leading.
Chapter 34 Summary: “Nathan Popova”
Nathan remembers that he and Oliver have an extra job: to snatch Perkins’s briefcase, which contains Mr. Aidact’s repair toolkit, during the escape. At halftime, the Seahawks lead 6-5. Nathan and Oliver deliver a decoy outfit to Darryl Yarmolenko, the tallest student, who will impersonate Mr. Aidact during the escape. They spot Principal Candiotti and worry about whose side she is on. The Seahawks score again after halftime, extending their lead to 7-5.
Kevin Krumlich arrives and immediately starts making phone calls. Soon, a flood of angry Brightling parents, led by Rosalie’s mother, arrives to stop the game. Principal Candiotti blocks their path. Just then, Rosalie scores, bringing the score to 7-6. Mrs. Arnette’s excitement at seeing her daughter score stops the parents’ protest, and they settle in to watch. The Seahawks play defensively to run out the clock. In the final second, Cassidy scores, tying the game 7-7. Oliver panics when the crowd doesn’t rush the field, and Nathan realizes the game is going into overtime.
Chapter 35 Summary: “Oliver Zahn”
It is 11:31 am, and Oliver panics that overtime will cause Mr. Aidact to miss his 11:45 bus. During the extra period, Mr. Aidact notices the opposing goalie’s pads are illegally oversized. After measuring, the umpire awards the Bobcats a penalty stroke. Cassidy scores, and Brightling wins the championship, 8-7.
The Brightling crowd storms the field. As they surge down the bleachers, Oliver snatches Perkins’s briefcase. At Oliver’s signal, students throw flyers into the air, creating a paper blizzard.
Oliver and Nathan reach Mr. Aidact and hand him the briefcase. Students unroll large posters, forming an escape tunnel through the crowd. Darryl dons the decoy outfit as Mr. Aidact begins his dash. Perkins and the other men are momentarily fooled, then trapped by the collapsing poster corridor. Mr. Aidact hurdles the fence and sprints toward the bus station. The van attempts pursuit, but Principal Candiotti blocks the parking lot exit with her car.
Later, at the bus station, Oliver and Nathan see Mr. Aidact toss the GPS chip into a New York-bound bus’s luggage compartment. He arrives at the Denver bus just in time. They say goodbye, and his bus departs at the same time as the New York bus. Oliver and Nathan watch the van follow the New York bus. As the Denver bus passes, they see Mr. Aidact laughing. Oliver realizes with joy that Mr. Aidact has developed a sense of humor.
Chapter 36 Summary: “Confidential Report”
Paul Perkins files a confidential report to the Department of Education. He argues that Project AIDACT was not a total failure, as the unit’s ability to conspire with students and escape demonstrated AI capabilities far more sophisticated than imagined. However, his team mistakenly followed a bus to the New Jersey Turnpike, making it unlikely the unit will ever be found. The project’s official status is changed to “On Hold.” Perkins lists special expenses including an engineering toolkit, gas reimbursement, and a carsickness remedy.
Chapter 37 Summary: “Rosalie Arnette”
The new state championship trophy is displayed on the once-empty pedestal in the main hallway. The principal holds a celebration for the Bobcats. The team toasts their win and Coach Aidact. Rosalie notices a traffic ticket on Candiotti’s desk for blocking the Memorial Field parking lot exit on game day. Candiotti reveals that the old, broken trophy was returned anonymously.
Later, Rosalie encounters Mr. Perkins, packing his belongings. He confirms his role at the school is over now that the AIDACT unit is gone. He asks if Mr. Aidact received his briefcase and seems pleased when Rosalie says yes. A new homeroom teacher, Ms. Van Dyke, has replaced Mr. Aidact. Oliver repeatedly tries to get her to call the class “pupils,” as Mr. Aidact did. Rosalie finds herself no longer angry at Oliver and Nathan, grateful for their role in saving Mr. Aidact. She wonders where he is and if he is safe.
Epilogue Summary
A news article in the Rocky Mountain News reports that tiny McLaren Academy, an all-girls school with fewer than 100 students, has won the National Girls’ Middle School Field Hockey Championship. The article quotes the school’s new coach, a young teacher named Nathan Oliver, who credits his “pupils” for the victory.
Chapter 28-Epilogue Analysis
The final chapters of the novel bring the theme of Questioning Personhood Beyond Biology to its conclusion, with the students deciding that identity is forged through action, choice, and connection. When Oliver reads the government email detailing plans to have Mr. Aidact “salvaged for spare parts” (233), his immediate reaction is to call the plan “like—murder!” (233). This visceral response rejects the official definition of Mr. Aidact as property and frames his potential deactivation in moral terms. Oliver’s argument that Mr. Aidact is a person rests on what he does: He supports marginalized students, demonstrates self-sacrifice, and learns new skills to provide care for others. This perspective is shared by the wider student community, from Rosalie, who insists Mr. Aidact is a person, to Mia Spinelli, who calls him the “most human” person she knows. This same perspective on his personhood also comes from Mr. Aidact himself. After an extensive internet search on the concept of “dying,” he makes a conscious statement: “I choose not to be deactivated” (238). This act of self-preservation, rooted in a new understanding of existence, expresses his autonomy, further supporting the students’ idea of him as a person.
These chapters pivot the motif of pranks and mischief to explore The Morality of Rule-Breaking, demonstrating that principled defiance can be a tool for justice. Oliver, the school’s resident “rule-wrecker,” finds his skills elevated from causing minor chaos to orchestrating a complex rescue mission. The very abilities that allowed him to mastermind pranks are now repurposed for a moral cause. This transition is not limited to Oliver; the entire student body engages in a collective act of civil disobedience. Rosalie lies to her mother, the field hockey team defies parental and administrative orders to play the championship game, and the students coordinate a deception involving decoys and distractions. The culmination of this thematic development is Principal Candiotti’s decision to illegally block the engineers’ van with her car. As the ultimate figure of authority in the school, her choice to break the law—symbolized by the traffic ticket on her desk—validates the students’ actions and signifies a choice to prioritize moral responsibility over institutional compliance. The novel thus draws a distinction between rebellion and conscientious objection, suggesting that ethical character is demonstrated by knowing when to follow the rules and when to break them.
The successful escape serves as a testament to The Impact of Unconventional Pedagogy, revealing that one of Mr. Aidact’s most significant lessons in inspiring collective action and moral courage. His insistence on coaching the final game, even with his deactivation imminent, underscores his core programming as a teacher: He tells Oliver and Nathan, “[An] AIDact unit is, first and foremost, a teacher. Nothing is more important than your pupils” (240). This final act of mentorship is about fulfilling his purpose and his duty to the students who depend on him. In turn, the students apply the teamwork, loyalty, and strategic thinking he fostered on the field to the problem of his survival. The escape plan becomes their final, collaborative project. Mr. Aidact’s legacy is confirmed in the epilogue, where he continues to use the name Oliver and Nathan put on his bus ticket: “Nathan Oliver.” This act highlights how his experience with the students continues to inform his actions and that his pedagogical mission continues, validating the idea that unconventional teaching can shape character and inspire action beyond the classroom.
The narrative uses key symbols to mark Mr. Aidact’s transition from a controlled experiment to an autonomous individual. Mr. Perkins’s briefcase, a consistent symbol of his role as Mr. Aidact’s controller, is transformed into an emblem of liberation. The students’ plan includes seizing the briefcase, which contains his repair toolkit, to ensure he has the means for self-sufficiency. Perkins’s later inquiry to Rosalie about whether Mr. Aidact received the toolkit and his subtle approval suggest a final concession to the robot’s individuality. In parallel, the resolution of the 1974 field hockey trophy provides symbolic closure. The old, broken trophy—a relic of the past and a casualty of earlier mischief—is returned anonymously. It is supplanted by the new trophy, won through the team’s loyalty to their robot coach. This replacement signifies the establishment of a new legacy, one forged in a present defined by community and courage.
To heighten the tension and emphasize the collective nature of the climax, the author increases the speed of the shift between the different narrators. The final chapters rapidly shift viewpoints between Oliver, Rosalie, Nathan, and Principal Candiotti, creating a panoramic view of the intricate escape plan as it unfolds. This polyvocal approach highlights that Mr. Aidact’s freedom is secured through the coordinated efforts of an entire community. The pacing accelerates dramatically during the championship game and subsequent escape, mirroring the characters’ anxiety and the ticking clock. This structural choice mirrors the frantic energy of the moment, building suspense until the image of Mr. Aidact laughing on the bus, highlighting both his physical freedom and his acquisition of a sense of humor, a manifestation of his time with the students and his absorption of their culture.
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