We found something incredible on a reddit post about a high school history teacher who holds himself to a consistent drawing schedule with a twist. When setting up the whiteboard for his first day of teaching, he spontaneously thought it would be fun to do a Picture of the Day. Even with the all extra work outside the classroom that comes with being a teacher, this dedicated doodler has spent the last three years getting up a few minutes earlier each morning so that he could draw a picture to accompany each lesson. Most of the time he’s frantically rushing to finish them before the bell rings and class starts! Five to ten minutes is the average time it takes to complete a drawing, with the exception of a few complex ones that took much longer. Some days, he even lets students draw the picture.
When I look back on how tedious high school classes could be, I think it’s amazing to dedicate extra time and effort to give students something to look forward to, and keep them interested in coming class to see what could be on the board each day. I imagine the pictures must also be enriching to the students’ memory! Facts about history can easily blur together throughout the year, but recalling what was on the board is probably a helpful device to remember specifics from any exact day. Like the artist wrote in one of his reddit comments: With teaching, there are tons of little things that may look like a “waste” to an outside observer, yet pay real dividends when it comes to your interactions with students, and thus have a net-positive effect on their education.
