| Booktalk
#1
"Just make a dot and see where
it sends you/" Wise words from a caring teacher. Vashti doesn't
quite understand what her teacher means. After all, she can't draw
and there is nothing the art teacher can do to change that. But then,
Vashti puts a dot on the paper just to get the teacher off her back.
Where can this possibly lead?
Booktalk #2
Do you feel like everyone else
in the world can draw better than you can? Are you embarrassed to
try because you are afraid everyone will laugh at your work? Vashti
is so afraid that she refuses to draw in art class. Her teacher asks
her to just make a mark and when Vashti makes a dot, the teacher asks her
to sign it. Then she frames it and puts it on display! This
gives Vashti the confidence to elaborate on her dot with different styles
and colors in more pictures until she is proud of her contribution to the
art show. When another student claims that he can’t draw, she encourages
him to make his mark and then she asks him to sign it, continuing the same
cycle of positive reinforcement of creativity that her art teacher used.
(Betty Teague, South Carolina
Book Awards, 2006) |
