Lessons Learned
Coloring
Outside the Lines
It was a
Mary Poppins coloring book and the pages were all a very light green, which was
extremely awesome because then one could freely use a white crayon. Everyone
knows that a white crayon is the loneliest crayon in the box and rarely is
selected as it cannot be seen on the usual white art and craft paper. The white
crayon enjoyed a bold, frequent presence in my Mary Poppins pictures. My dad
and I colored together a lot, for in his wonderful innovative creativity, he
was an especially brilliant coloring accomplice. Rather than coloring in the
lines, Dad used a black crayon to extend the pictures, and liberally added hats
on heads, props in hands, hot air balloons in the sky, every sort of fish in
the lakes, additional furniture in the Banks’ home, unexpected and delightful
animals in the parks, vendors selling treasures on the sidewalks, and all kinds
of excellent, wonderful, highly imaginative and creative fun. With his black
crayon, my white crayon, and all of the colors in between, we smiled, laughed,
and created masterpiece after masterpiece, all the while, narrating the stories
of the pictures as we colored. From my earliest days, I fondly and vividly
recall being encouraged to color outside the lines. This great gift of
exercising and trusting creativity has joyfully served me and through my humble
hands has reached hearts of students through thirty years of teaching.
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