It's been too long since I have written an essay. I have been busy with writing my book and articles but that is no excuse. I will write a longer form essay soon but I wanted to share some exciting news about my first podcast interview!
I took a trip to the MIT campus this summer to meet with the Edutopia team. We discussed how to use sketching in a classroom and why it is such an effective tool for long term and meaningful learning. You can listen to the podcast on Apple or on Spotify.
I see so much time wasted in education:
- Students at the low end of achievement are bewildered by abstract ideas that they struggle to comprehend.
- Average students don't find anything in school worth putting effort into improving.
- Gifted students also suffer because they have gotten good at playing a pointless game of looking good for stickers and have internalized education as something they need to do in order to get accolades and a well paying job.
I have seen how much more students can accomplish when we give them more than edu-tainment. I don't want to say that every student will love drawing but even the students that resist doing the work are proud of what they accomplish and appreciate their ability to improve at seeing the world as it really is.
I'm going to ask all of you for three favors:
- Listen to the podcast!
- Share the podcast with teachers, homeschooling parents, art lovers or anyone that you think would find it valuable
- Rate and Review the podcast - You'd be helping me and helping other teachers discover these ideas!
If I could offer everyone one thing it would be the courage to sketch something; really look at something in your life. Spend time looking at it and attempt to draw it as accurately as you can. It doesn't matter how well you do so long as you attempted to draw what you actually see.
Drawing was the best skill I learned and I am grateful that it came into my life. If I can give one person that kind of joy of discovery I will have served them well.
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