As I walk up and down the aisles checking the students’ work, I will inevitably find someone whose side margins of their worksheet are filled with colourful drawings. When I first started teaching, I would have been annoyed at the lack of work being completed. Now, I know so much more like some students doodle for mindfulness, or because that is their signal that they need help but are hesitant to ask for assistance.
But of course, I also have a duty to ensure students understand their work. So, instead of admonishing them, I try to bring what they are doing into the current lesson:
“Wow, that’s a really nice dragon! Remember how we’re doing colours in French today? Do you think you could tell me the colours you chose in French on the side?”
“Cool robot! Hey, you know how we’re talking about rocks and minerals for Science? I wonder what metallic ores you might use for his body?”
Sometimes I read the stories in my Ontario College of Teachers magazine about Canadian celebrities and the teachers that have made a difference in their lives. My favourite that I shared with my students was the one on Olympic gold medalist Bruny Surin and how he was encouraged to try out for sports in high school from the coach when he was a shy newly landed immigrant.
I often wonder if I’ll influence someone enough that they’ll mention me in an interview someday. Then I worry that they’ll mention me, but as “that teacher that discouraged them and didn’t make them feel like they were good enough.”
I wasn’t really a doodler in school, but I was definitely a day dreamer. There were plenty of times that I probably fooled teachers into thinking that I was paying attention when in reality I was just facing forward running through a story or an episode of my make believe world in my head. I already understood a lot of the work, but this was my way of dealing with feelings and thinking what to do next with my learning.
I have plenty of students that have struggled with writing and math, but could run circles around me with their art skills. So yes, sometimes I sigh inwardly at a lack of completed assignments but more often than not, I marvel at the way they use drawing to capture their feelings and assist with their memory. That’s why I prefer to guide them to use their talents for where their creativity may take them.
Speaking of a doodler and a dreamer, I was reading a book this summer when one of the interview excerpts mentioned a young man who was caught by a teacher years ago making an elaborate storyboard with a Western battle. Instead of punishing him, she stated she could help him put his work on a giant mural and present it to the class-on the condition that he also got his work finished.
The young man was movie mogul George Lucas.
Probability wise, I’m not likely to have the next big Hollywood writer/director in one of my classes. But I’ve taught enough to know that my chances of of making a student’s day positive on how I react to their artistic expression are certainly more than 50/50.
