“I am drawing you!” R announced when she noticed me walking towards her. Earlier that afternoon, she asked me to draw things for her. I triedmy best with a kitty, a rabbit, a tiger, a funny guy, and even her mom and dad, before I retreated and suggested her to draw something as well. Iwalked away to watch out for other children, and when I went back to her, she was still drawing quietly at the same spot.
I asked her to tell me something about her drawing of me, and she started, “These are your eyes, this is your nose, this is your mouth, and thisis your head. You have a pointy head, pointy like this.” She traced her drawing as she explained.
I was confused at first. Where did the pointy head come from? Do I have a pointy head? I decided to share my doubts with her, but she just shoot me a look as if I am asking her what the color of the sky is. She just pointed me and said, “Look at your head , it is pointy.”
I activated my phone’s front camera and was so eager to find out the answer. Maybe I had something on my head? Once I see my head in the camera, I realized what she meant by “pointy”. The hat that I wore somehow formed a pointy shape and that was what she saw. She seemed to be satisfied with the head, and then went on to the hair part to finish the drawing of me.
She did not stop there, however. She moved to the other side of the wood fence where I drew her parents and began to add more details. “Mommy’s hair is long, like this… and Daddy has beard above his mouth.” She was so proud of her work after she finished the details, and off she went, calling for the other children to come and see her parents on the wall.
My Reflection
The idea that I am making visible here is how R made her own observation of people around her, and how was she capable of interpretating herobservation into sketches and details. I listened carefully and paid close attention to R’s explanation, so I was able to notice the fun part, and Iwas also curious enough to encourage her to tell me more about it.
Meanwhile, I am also aware that I did not encourage her to use the chalk and draw at the beginning. I did the first drawings and put all thecharacters that she wanted into adult-style drawings. What if I encouraged her to draw from the beginning? Could that bring other possibilities of interpretation?