My #Dotday takeaway

A few weeks ago, we celebrated Dot Day as a school. For those of you unfamiliar with Dot Day, it's a day set aside to focus on creativity- to help kids understand they each have the ability to make a difference in the world- to make their mark. The brainchild of  Terry Shay (@tjshay) based on the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds (@peterhreynolds), Dot Day has become an international phenomenon- creating a global community~ all around a book.

Dot Day at our school helped create community.
Dot Day at our school helped kids with expression.
Dot Day helped teachers think outside of the box of standard instruction.
Dot Day gave us an excuse to be kids for the day.

While it was a day, it was just a start. The creativity continues at our school. Just this week, pumpkins decorated as book characters arrived in the Media Center. Communities built out of cereal boxes and scrap materials came in after a project in second grade. I'm away in training, but rumor has it that animals created from blending different animal parts are arriving.

But that's not all. I had a shift in myself. Me - the one who "can't draw." The one whose art doesn't look like anything that it should look like, is now drawing. Taking a risk. As kindergarten friends are calling out names of animals that could be pets- I sketch them. And then, this happened:

S1: That doesn't look like a horse.
S2: It's her art. It looks like a horse to me. It's just fine.
S2 gets up and comes to hug me, to reassure me that my art matters.

And yes, my heart grew 2 sizes in that moment. And I will draw again.

Thank you@tjshay and @peterhreynolds for helping this self-doubter take a risk. You can teach old dogs new tricks.



Comments

  1. Dear friend, you embody the movement of Dot Day and your brave steps will teach kids for generations that kindness matters and bravery is important. Thank you for celebrating and for sharing your experience. This gives us rocket fuel to keep us going.

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  2. Thank you for your kind words, Mr. Shay. I was so moved by my student's compassion and kindness that I had to share. I'm still smiling at the sweetness. And, once he approached me to hug me- others joined in. So excited that our future is filled with such wonderful kids!

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  3. This is so FABULOUS! The horse is definitely horse-ish. Thank you for sharing so openly.

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