Heidi Dimmick tells this story. “On the second day of Arts Leadership Academy, a 10-day professional development series, they told me I would have to draw. Fear, sent me into the bathroom in tears, where I called my husband and asked him to come get me. I can’t draw and I was about to be humiliated. He laughed, encouraged me and hung up the phone. I spent the next two hours drawing a still life of bottles and bowls step by step led by Scott while he shared stories of his classroom and why he teaches art as part of reading. When I cut out my still life, mounted it on black paper and hung it in the hotel hallway with the others, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was proud of my work.
I started taking my students to the museum to “read paintings” and began to teach drawing regularly. My student’s liked seeing that I was learning too. My student learning improved and school was more fun for me and my students.
It is fun to tease Heidi that although she, her husband and her 3 children worked together to each earn a black belt in Taekwondo, fear of drawing put her in tears. Her courage and work ethic propelled her into a teacher leader and favorite presenter for teachers in arts integration.