The Doodler by Mary

The Doodler by Mary - January 2015 Scholarship Essay

I was the kid who would scrawl all over assignments- elephants, spaceships, dinosaurs-the works. Sometimes I would incorporate them into the notes I was taking, with pea pods and plants for Mendel, while other times they would just be winding patterns in the margins for algebra. Don’t get me wrong- I wasn't bored, not at all. Drawing ,or even just the random squiggles brought a kinetic aspect to everything I was hearing. Maybe it sounds hokey, but I swear, all those robots I had drawn in biology lectures really helped later during the test. If I couldn't remember how sodium-potassium functioned in relation to a cell, all it took was a little robot doodle to bring it all back.

There are all sorts of techniques for teaching that every student has experienced at one point or another. Some want you to do note cards; others are big fans of Cornell notes. Sometimes they work- other times they are just frustrating and vaguely confusing to the kids who they don’t help.

Most teachers would mark down my assignments or chide me for drawing all the time. But those who didn't took the time to know me as persons, not just a piece of the classroom. They realized the benefit of letting a student work in their strengths, rather than being forced into a more traditional, less personally effective mold.

Being open to alternative methods, especially when they work for the student, lets the focus be on learning and understanding, rather than fulfilling semi-arbitrary standards.