What Do High School Kids Think of Dot Day?

Several people have asked on Twitter how to celebrate Dot Day with high school students. Since the very beginning, I've just set out art supplies and let them make dots. No special lesson. We do use canvas now and I hang the resulting dot art in my classroom for the remainder of the year. I decided to ask my beloved former students what they thought of Dot Day. At the risk of seeming immodest,  I am quoting them exactly as they responded. I believe their responses show exactly how amazing my students are:

As a student I enjoyed dot day. I remember the first time I saw the video, I wasn't sure what to expect and it turned out to be something very eye opening, motivating, and encouraging. I loved the idea of dot day, not only because I got to create my own dot, but because it was a great message that we were helping send out world wide. - Molly

I liked seeing the map showing all the countries that participated in Dot Day! I thought it was cool that my music teacher from Iowa had managed to reach kids that were hundreds of thousands of miles away.- Emma

I liked Mr. Shay.. He was cool and everyone respected him.. Maybe if more of the teachers were like him they wouldn't need to pry their students to make a dot that could change a life.. Not only change a life, but show that there are people who care and want to help out all over the world...Taylor

Dot day to me not only stimulates and shows the creative nature inside of everyone, but also being able to see a small group of people be able to reach out and affect thousands of lives for a day. It shows you can make a difference through hard work and inspiration.-Mitchell

Nowadays, we are pushing students to do more and learn more to try and help them find out what the future may have in store for them, but it is ALWAYS necessary to take a step back for a day and bring out your inner feelings and creativity, and what better way is there to do so than a dot! Dot Day is one of my favorite times of the year because I can forget about everything, and just focus on making a dot of my own that would be hung on Mr. Shay's wall. Your eye is always drawn right to them when you walk into his room, and it is really awesome to see everyone's creativity come together to form such a beautiful piece of art. I cannot wait to one day have a classroom of my own and get to encourage my students to partake in this great event each year! -Landon

To me. dot day is a day that not only celebrates creativity, but also emphasizes the significance that is held by each and every person on this Earth. It is a day that reminds us all that each and every one of us has talents to share, no matter how small we may think they are. It teaches that we never need to be anything more than ourselves; we are all great in our own ways. Just think, if a small town, Iowan, teacher can spread joy, creativity, and a sense of significance, to millions around the world, starting with something as small as a dot, what great things can you do? - Shannon

I always enjoyed dot day because I liked how it was something people from all parts of the world could share together. You were able to get creative with your dot and share a little bit of your personality with everyone that was able to see it. -Jackie

As I said, best kids in the world! Celebrate however you like, but don't think you need to do anything special. Watercolors, markers, crayons....whatever you have. High school kids just want to be creative...like all of us.

High School Canvas 2014

The Learning Journey

My very first keynote presentation was to an amazing group of gifted and talented educators at the "Developing Possibilities" conference held in Storm Lake, IA. I was honored that Shari Collins asked me to present my story and passion for creativity.

The main points of my talk were:

 -Make connections, let them bring out your passion. For me, I learned about a program called "Stationery Studio" and fell in love with a company that designs amazing software and has a huge mission that showed me how passionate I was about creativity. Through that first connection, I was beyond blessed to be able to meet and fall in love with Peter H. Reynolds and software designer, Dr. Peggy Healy Stearns. 

I was also fortunate to have a friend at school, Brent Thoren, who took one of the lessons I created for "Animation-Ish" and had kids do it as an assignment, even before the program was on the market, to test it out. Having people who support you along the way is so important, I was lucky to have one of the best.

-Share your ideas with the right people. I shared the small idea of having kids make dots in their classrooms with Peter H. Reynolds and it took off because he loved the idea and supported it. He had the brilliance of calling it International Dot Day, setting the bar fantastically high. 

-Find people who share your passion. The first explosion of Dot Day happened when Shannon M. Miller and John Schumacher shared with their schools and social networks.

The second major milestone happened when Newbery Medal winning author, Sharon Creech, kindly sent me a dot on Dot Day 2011. That one act of kindness launched the Celebridot site. One of the huge blessings in my life is to be connected with the very best authors and illustrators on the planet who were kind enough to make dots to inspire kids to be creative.

I shared examples of how creativity has impacted my school and my classroom. So many awesome connections have established because of my passion for creativity in the classroom. Watching kids create amazing things feeds the passion in me. 

International Dot Day has allowed me to meet and build enduring friendships with the very best educators all around the world. Search #DotDay on Twitter and find amazing educators with amazing creativity and heart.

I challenged the educators at my session to share a dot with me. I am so honored that some of these great people sent me a dot and shared what they are passionate about. Below are the dots they sent, I was so impressed with all of them!!

What are you passionate about and what are you doing every day to feed that passion?

Inisha Hoehamer

Terry Van Berkum

Marleta Smith

Shari Collins

Rebecka Allen

Vickie Hemmingson

Julie Gibson

Filled With Hope

I have shared the growing numbers of kids participating in Dot Day. Please know that the numbers really don't tell the whole story for me. It's not about the numbers, it's about the shift in schools....even if it is only for one day or one week. To think of kids totally immersed in creative expression makes me deeply happy. It is a thing filled with hope. This project, for me, is also about brave teachers willing to lay the curriculum aside for one hour/day/week and embrace creativity. There is great pressure on teachers with high stakes state tests, so any time spent away from that is a risk.

At this second, there are 65,653+ kids expected to participate, that's more than 65,000 chances for kids to be artists and dreamers. If the number doesn't grow any more, and I am sure it will, it will be enough. Sorry if you have grown tired of my constant sharing....but it's who I am and it's important to me.

Life is good...I appreciate all my fellow dreamers who have Facebooked, tweeted, emailed, and talked about this project. They deserve all the credit for making this happen. Creativity rocks!

After "The Dot"

On September 15, my school and other schools around the World celebrated International Dot Day. Dot Day is a fantastic way to start a creativity movement in your school. You can read more about Dot Day here and here. More than 17000 students and 1000 adults participated in Dot Day this year.

As I was reading through the tweets and Facebook messages, I was struck by two great quotes: @MrSchuReads "Quote of the day: 'Every day should be #dotday.' -2nd grader" and @karacornejo "One dot can launch the journey."


One dot can launch a journey and every day should be dot day....so why isn't it? Both quotes and the whole idea of dot day got me thinking of ways I could add more creativity to my classroom (it has been a creative place....but why not add more?). So, in high school chorus we have done a few artsy type projects. 

We were singing a song called "The Heavenly Road" so, one option for an activity was to draw HIS/HER Heavenly Road. . . What would it look like, what would be on it?

They could also capture a scene from other songs....

like "Winter Song"

It was exciting to see the words of the songs creativity captured in art. It was even more exciting to have the students deeply involved in the words to the song!

Dot Day is a great start to a journey!

How are you going to ramp up creativity in your classroom??