I deeply appreciate working in an environment that models and fosters growth and learning. As a summer reading assignment, I experimented with the Word, Phrase, Sentence reflection strategy as I read Doodle Revolution. A new believer in WPS and doodling, I decided to share these methods with my students. What a response I got! They love collaborating around post-its while talking though their thoughts on the book Three Wishes. When they see flair pens out, I hear, “Yes! We get to take notes!” Their notes are beautiful!
How fun it has been to learn along side children. As part of the Sixth Grade experience, students take an Explorations class. The contagious excitement for doodling (and flair pens) made the Sketch Noting Explorations class one of the popular options. In the first class, we used BrainDoodles to aid in our visual literacy. As she enjoyed practicing the visual alphabet, one Sixth Grader said, “Goodbye gel pens, hello flairs!”
Doodling and post-its are just a medium used for students to engage. But to me, they represent the power of modeling. These methods were modeled by (and passed from) administration to teachers to students. That’s what it’s all about. My professional development and growth should inform my teaching practices. It’s refreshing and necessary to work in a place that the growth mindset is alive and well!
Learner, Thinker, Writer: Julia Kuipers (@jkuipers_3) serves the Trinity School community as a Sixth Grade Associate Teacher
Julia, reading the Post-It notes in your classroom highlights the rich thinking and questioning that occurs when students are encouraged to engage fully in their learning.