By Delia Wu
Hey students, take a look around your classroom and tell me if you find somebody is doodling in their notebook. Oh, teachers and parents, please don't be mad, because doodling is not always meaning unlearned and waste of time.
Hey students, take a look around your classroom and tell me if you find somebody is doodling in their notebook. Oh, teachers and parents, please don't be mad, because doodling is not always meaning unlearned and waste of time.
Doodling during class is commonly considered as a distraction which draw students’ attention away from the lesson. However, Laura disagrees with that. Laura Ercolani is an eighteen-year-old Italian girl who loves to draw during class. “When I paint, I can still listen.” Laura said, “Painting in class makes me feel more relaxed. It even helps me to concentrate on what the others say.”
What Laura was pointing out is true. It has already been proven by the psychology Jackie Andrede, of the University of Plymouth in England, that doodling could actually help people memorize things. Her solutions stated that the doodlers would help people to concentrate better on one thing.
What Laura was pointing out is true. It has already been proven by the psychology Jackie Andrede, of the University of Plymouth in England, that doodling could actually help people memorize things. Her solutions stated that the doodlers would help people to concentrate better on one thing.
Except for some basic techniques that Laura learned in the previous art class, Laura does not take any drawing class. She does not even draw at home. She just feels relaxed when she is doodling during class. After taking a look at her work, it is easy to find that she loves the kind of drawing where parts of elements could fit together, “It is like a puzzle to me,” she said. All those pieces of her abstract art that finished during class show her personality, her imagination and her views to art. People doodle naturally because it is a kind of way to loosen up. Her drawings literally have part of herself in it.
Seventeen-year-old Chinese girl Chloe Liao does not agree with the theory that doodling in class helps people to concentrate. “I only doodle during class when I am bored,” Chloe told us. She admits that her doodling behavior is one of the distractions that interfered her concentration with the lesson.
“I looked at my iPhone case which is a tight portrait of Spiderman, and I just literally picked up my pencil and drew it down,” Chloe said, “how could I listen to class when I was painting?”. Unlike Laura's puzzle doodlers, Chloe’s painting has a clear theme and special image. She paid too much attention to the details like the shadow and the shape of her drawings. “I feel ashamed of this,” Chloe said. To Chloe, doodling is not a good sign of concentration.
Looking at what Chloe drew you will easily find the connections between her two pieces of doodlers. Her drawings are all the characters in Marvel cartoons. The drawing that Chloe drew in class reflects Chloe’s interests. In the same fashion, Laura always draws her painting puzzle, which represented her styles during class. All those signs indicates that student release themselves by doodling during class.
Even though doodling could be a distraction in class, it is much better than daydreaming in class. So teachers, when you see your students are doodling in class, please don’t embarrass them. Students are just trying to relax themselves through doodling.
Even though doodling could be a distraction in class, it is much better than daydreaming in class. So teachers, when you see your students are doodling in class, please don’t embarrass them. Students are just trying to relax themselves through doodling.