If you have never read the book "The Dot" by Peter H Reynolds, then I would highly recommend it! (Beware I’m about to spoil the plot) This is one of my favorite books partially because it is about an art teacher and her student, but really because it is a story of perseverance. The more I read the story the more I fall in love with it. After rereading this book this summer I became determined for it to be my first day of school book for my students.
So when I found out that on the first day of school I got to see all of my pre-k through 1st grade students I was ecstatic. Like a good teacher I made a plan for them to meet me, make something, and have a good time… but I really wanted more for them. I wanted them to really understand my expectations, and I am not talking about the expectations for them to sit quietly and raise their hands (which are all good things). I wanted more for them.
This is where the book comes into play! The book starts out with a frustrated child in art class with a white piece of paper at the end of class.
To this art teacher that is a red flag! Something is seriously wrong!
The good art teacher in the story swoops in and saves the day.
Now this is the start of my favorite part.
The teacher doesn’t swoop in and fix the problem or get angry, she makes a positive assumption that the child was doing the best she could and says “ahh it must be a polar bear in a snow storm.”
Now when I read this I imagine a little bit of sarcasm and I know I said this before but this really really is my favorite part of the whole story because this moment is the moment that I can imagine we all relate to.
Vashti, the little girl in art class, replies to the art teacher with action. The little girl takes a marker and makes a dot on her page and hands it back to the teacher.
I’m not sure if this part is in my head or what but I imagine with all the frustration in the world she takes her marker high in the sky and jabs the marker down in the middle of the paper.
All of my students would tell you this is a major art room no no because this is not how we treat markers!
You can feel her frustration as she gives the paper back to the teacher. She continues by saying “I just can’t draw” (which I imagine her saying in the huffy frustrated tone of a middle school girl).
We have all felt this frustration about something in life. Something that we didn’t think we could do. Something we felt frustrated by the idea of even trying. And the teacher has the best reaction ever! The teacher doesn’t get on her preaching block about not treating markers this way she simply hands the paper back to the little girl and in a soft tone tells her to sign her paper.
This part is so very important for many reasons because the teacher is not telling her this so that the paper doesn’t get lost in the no name area of the classroom and I don’t even think that it is for the little victory that it gives the child when she realizes that even though she can’t draw she can at least write her name. But this simple act causes the little girl to take ownership of her actions. Which in its self is an important moment because we all have to take ownership of our actions.
Now as the story progress the girl sees her little dot made in frustration framed in a gold frame by the teachers desk the next day. This makes the girl feel important and she realizes that if her name is going to be on this art that maybe she could try a little harder and actually create something wonderful. At the end of the story a little boy tells Vashti that he can’t create art like she can and she continues to empower the little boy in the same way that her teacher did her. Now we could go on to talk about how the teachers kindness was a chain reaction that spread more kindness but although a good moral of this story it is not why I love this story.
I love this story simply because when we push through and try our hardest we can all be amazing at something. There will always be things in life that we don’t feel like we can do or we simply don’t want to do but this story is a reminder that if we try our best we might just be surprised at what we can do. This story also reminds us that when we do our best we feel good about putting our little name on the corner of our art and taking ownership of our actions.
After reading the book I proudly showed my students the dot framed above my desk as a simple reminder to me to assume the best in my students and reminder to them to always try your best.
And then like all good art classes we got to create! Each student proudly wrote their name on their dot and then colored their dot to the best of their ability. After we were done all of the students held their dot in their left hand and raised their right hand and repeated after me “With this dot I promise to always try my best in the art room.”
So yes we learned procedures for sitting on our spots on the floor and listening to a story. Yes we learned our procedures for coloring. Yes we learned our procedures for cleaning up. And yes we created some art. But although we made our dots on the first day of school we also did so much more! As we look to a new school year, my wish for my students is that they take ownership of their art and actions and that they always try their best in all things (but especially in the art room).
