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Communication is not just talking,
and it isn't lecturing.
Sometimes, what a teacher doesn't say makes the most
difference.
Let me show you.
The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds.
Art class was over, but Vashti sat, glued to her chair.
Her paper was empty.
Vashti's teacher leaned over her blank paper.
Ah, a polar bear in a snowstorm, she said.
Very funny, said Vashti, I just can't draw.
Her teacher smiled.
Just make a mark, and see where it takes you, she said.
Vashti grabbed a marker, and gave the paper a
good, strong jab.
There.
Her teacher picked up the paper
and studied it carefully.
Hmmmm.
Then, she pushed the paper toward Vashti and quietly
said, now, sign it.
Vashti thought for a moment, well, maybe I can't draw, but
I can sign my name.
The next week, when Vashti walked into art class, she was
surprised to see what was hanging above
her teacher's desk.
It was the little dot she had drawn.
Her dot, all framed in swirly gold.
Hmmm.
I can make a better dot than that.
She opened her never before used set of watercolors and
set to work.
Vashti painted and painted.
A red dot, a blue dot, a purple dot, a yellow dot.
Then, the blue mixed with the yellow, and she discovered
that she could make a green dot.
Vashti kept experimenting, lots of little
dots in many colors.
If I can make little dots, I can make big dots too.
Vashti splashed her colors with a bigger brush on bigger
paper to make bigger dots.
Vashti even made a dot by not painting a dot.
At the school art show, a few weeks later, Vashti's many
dots made quite a splash.
Vashti noticed a little boy gazing up at her.
You're a really good artist.
I wish I could draw, he said.
I bet you can, said Vashti.
Me?
No, not me.
I can't draw a straight line with a ruler.
Vashti smiled.
She handed the boy a blank sheet of paper.
Show me.
The boy's pencil shook as he drew his line.
Vashti stared at the little boy's squiggle and
then said, Sign it.
The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds, is dedicated to Mr. Madsen, my
seventh grade math teacher, who dared me to make my mark.