International Dot Day?

From: Flickr Creative Commons: Visions By Vicky

Recently, I was reading Angela Maiers' blog, and came across a post about International Dot Day.  At first, I just passed it by, not really paying attention to what I had just read. Then, it hit me, what the heck is International Dot Day, and why have I never heard of it before?!? So, this is when I deliberately decided to "continue reading" and find out about International Dot Day from Angelia Maiers. Direct from Maiers' blog post, "Every year on September 15, innovative educators around the world celebrate International Dot Day by making time to encourage their students’ creativity and genius potential. Inspired by Peter H. Reynolds treasured story, The Dot, students are encouraged to “make their mark” by starting simply with a dot and then seeing where that dot takes you." Now, this seems like a pretty cool idea to me! First of all, I strongly agree with encouraging children to express what they have learned from art and their own creativity. Second of all, the lesson integrates literature, which I also feel strongly about. Finally, children are encouraged to "make their mark", which connects to 21st century learning and Global Education (see my previous post for more on Global Education). According to Angela's blog post, "Over 350,000 educators and students have registered so far for International Dot Day and have signed up to share their stories with one another using the Skype in The Classroom Network. It is awe-inspiring to see children, teachers, leaders and entire communities representing all 50 states and spanning 6 continents join together to let one another know how much they matter to the world." This is just so amazing to me, and really gets me excited about joining such an amazing profession. Projects like these give me inspiration to be a great teacher, and innovator. Teaching and encouraging students to "make their mark" is what education and Global Education is really all about; providing experiences for students to learn from to become better 21st century learners, citizens, and creators. Terry Shay, inventor of International Dot Day created a website to inform educators, parents and students about this day and why it is important. "Every day is a good day to celebrate creativity in the classroom and all that it unlocks and unleashes for students and teachers. But since 2009, one day – September 15 -- has become a great day for teachers, students and people everywhere to re-commit and re-connect to the power and potential that creativity brings to all we do." The video below show an example of how one school incorporates International Dot Day into their curriculum. How would you use The Dot, by Peter H. Reynolds in your classroom to inspire students?