"Drawing/Writing and the New Literacy (embodies) insight on science education....demonstrating the value of hands-on,kinesthetic participation by the student of whatever age (and I'm one of them) in addressing the real world. Find out what others know - of course - but then repeat it with your eyes and hands, then add your own observations, and then, finally, own the subject. That's a good prescription for education generally." --E.O. Wilson, Harvard University, January 8, 1998, correspondance.

"Only one thing is certain - that written language of children develops in this fashion, shifting from drawings of things to drawings of words. The entire secret of teaching written language is to prepare and organize this natural transition appropriately...Make believe play, drawing and writing can be viewed as different moments in an essentially unified program of development of written language...The discontinuities and jumps from one mode of activity to the other are too great for the relationship to seem evident." --Lev Vygotsky, "The Prehistory of Writing," an essay, c. 1930 in The Mind in Society, 1978.

rawing/Writing is a theory, a practice, a book, and a course of study developed by a writer, artist, teacher, and parent. Drawing/Writing is for anyone - including parents and teachers and all other caregivers who work with children's minds - as well as any reader who is working on personal growth - who is interested in: how important attention is to active seeing how complex and modular the visual brain is, and how what the eyes see is only the beginning of visual thinking how drawing and writing and mathematical notation and musical notation are connected, developmentally and logically - once we focus on human beings as mark-makers of significance. We are like other language-using creatures - except when it comes to mark-making; then, we are unique. how aesthetics and moral education can be combined as soon as we start to talk about right relationships and acceptable differences in drawings how much the brain's training and attitudes and beliefs affect and determine the quality and effectiveness and satisfaction of thinking over a lifetime. The learner determines the learning; the thinker determines the thinking. The brain is active, not passive. Early education at home and at school matters. Home and school are where each of our brains learns to think about itself and what it can and can not do. In short, to be active or passive. how a theory called Neuroconstructivism and a practice called Drawing/Writing, as well as a notion of multiple literacies, deepen and broaden our understanding of our minds and our potential for intelligent behavior. Like other dynamic systems, our brains are self-constructing and self-correcting. In these two truths lies our hope for the present and the future.

Photo by Allen Photography

r. Susan Rich Sheridan is an artist, writer, parent and teacher. She received her undergraduate degree in Classics and English from Harvard College and her MAT and her doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Dr. Sheridan has taught English and Art at the middle school, high school and college levels for the past twenty years. Dr. Sheridan’s theory of education Neuroconstructivism, and her cross-modal practice Drawing/Writing are the result of twenty years of on-going teaching and field research.

To an unprecedented degree, a technological society requires visual literacy skills as well as verbal skills. These requirements place considerable pressures on the classroom, the home, and industry. This book meets this demand for multiple literacy skills by encouraging the natural, evolutionary capabilities of our brains, starting with the universal skill that everyone can do, drawing. The abilities to write and to read depend upon core skills including the ability to pay attention, to extract information, to communicate ideas and emotions clearly, and to use both words and images. In short, to use the whole brain. These skills can be learned through training in drawing. Drawing is a universal skill. Everyone can draw. No one teaches us how. Drawing is a language instinct. When talking and writing accompany drawing, verbal skills grow and a double literacy develops, both visual and verbal. This “new literacy " is as old as paleolithic cave drawings and as new as computer technology. The New Literacy models integrated brain function . The New Literacy rests on a new theory of multiple literacies. Humans as language-users have one unique characteristic: they make marks of meaning. These marks first take the form of scribbles. Then, children draw. The marks are equipotential: they can become anything: drawing, writing, mathematics, musical notation. The number of systems for meaning-making each of us learns depends upon opportunity, encouragement and instruction. It depends on our parents, our teachers, our environment, and our culture. Ultimately, it depends upon our brains and how we choose to use them. Neurologically speaking, literacy is visual/verbal; it is both The corpus callosum connecting the right and left hemispheres of the brain insures that thinking is a complex , cooperative unity- no matter what kind of thinking is going on. The more mark-making systems we use, the more powerfully we think. Multiple literacy is our goal and our birthright.

The Scribble Hypothesis:Abstract and Research Notes Introduction Very young children’s scribbling serves four critical purposes Research Questions Neurobiological research relevant to education in connection with reading, writing, mathematics and "creativity" DRAWING AND TALK RESEARCH DRAWING AND WRITING RESEARCH DRAWING AND READING RESEARCH DRAWING AND MATHEMATICS RESEARCH DRAWING AND CREATIVITY RESEARCH DRAWING AND EXPERT MODELS Added after presentation Inaccurate “icons” of science A protein called scribble Isomorphism between proteins and children’s scribbles Infant Laughter, Toddlers' Scribbles and the Metaphorical Three Year old: Abstract The Scribble Hypothesis Keywords Abstract Introduction The Four Hypotheses Conclusion Coda for Parents and Teachers and People in Business References Multiple Literacies Scribbles: The missing link in a theory of human language in which mothers and children play major roles Abstract downloadable version Research questions for researchers in early childhood education. Scribbles: The Missing Link in a Bio-Evolutionary Theory of Human Language with Implications for Human Consciousness - Presented at poster session, "Towards a Science of Consciousness 2004" Abstract downloadable version Research questions for researchers in early childhood education. A Theory of Marks and Mind: the effect of notational systems on hominid brain evolution and child developmentwith an emphasis on exchanges between mothers and children - in press, Medical Hypotheses Journal, Leeds, UK., to be presented on November 12, 2004 at the CAEA (California Art Educators' Association) conference in Riverside California in a keynote address. downloadable version Speaking in Tongues, or Glossolalia, consciousness states, and the mind/body benefits of fluent spiritual speech: Extending the purpose of linguistic experience - To be presented at poster session, "Towards a Science of Consciousness 2006, April 4-8, 2006, University of Arizona, Tucson The Scribble Hypothesis: Invisible Brain Building Scribbling, Drawing, Reading and Writing. Are these skills connected? A Parent’s questions, a teacher’s answers (downloadable pdf version) The Thinking Child: A handbook for parents The Thinking Child: A handbook for parents - downloadable pdf version (warning, large file) Drawing/Writing and the new literacy: Excerpts Part One: The Reasons Why: A Pesuasive Essay in Four Sections The Drawing/Writing Experience New Classrooms, New Teachers The New Literacy Part Two: How to Do It: A User's Guide How to Do It Preliminary Drawing/Writing Download "Preliminary Drawing/Writing" exercise Part Three: Hitchhikers' Guide to Brain Science Excerpt from "Hitchhikers' Guide to Brain Science" Part Four: The Thinking Child Excerpt from "The Thinking Child" Appendices How I got here The New Literacy Terms and Powerful Ideas Works Cited Extended Bibliography Families and Drawing: Marks and Mind: Excerpt/Preview (Drawing/Writing exercises) Research Questions, by chapters, with bibliography from the forthcoming book, The Scribble Hypothesis: How Marks Change Minds. Toward an evolutionary theory of literacy and an applied science of parenting, by SR Sheridan, copyright 2004 - downloadable pdf version Scribbles: The Missing Link in a Bio-Evolutionary Theory of Human Language with Implications for Human Consciousness - Presented at poster session, "Towards a Science of Consciousness 2004" - Research questions for researchers in early childhood education. Scribbles: The missing link in a theory of human language in which mothers and children play major roles - Research questions for researchers in early childhood education.

The Thinking Child: A handbook for parents The Thinking Child: A handbook for parents - downloadable pdf version (warning, large file) Excerpt from Drawing/Writing and the new literacy Download "Preliminary Drawing/Writing" exercises Excerpt from Families and Drawing: Marks and Mind Download Drawing/Writing exercises For Parents: A Preview of the Drawing/Writing exercises in the book, Families and Drawing: Marks and Mind. Try them and let us know what you think. Introduction to Marks and Mind: Have you Ever Wondered? About Susan Rich Sheridan About the Drawing/Writing and the new literacy theory About the book, Drawing/Writing and the new literacy Excerpts from Drawing/Writing and the new literacy What is Drawing/Writing? The Practice of Drawing/Writing and What is Does The Rationale for the Drawing/Writing Program How Brain Science Informs Neuroconstructivism What is the New Literacy? Detailed Description of the Book Choose course list sorted by date, location, or title Drawing/Writing course list sorted by date Drawing/Writing course list sorted by title Drawing/Writing course list sorted by location Testimony about Drawing/Writing Courses Required text, all courses: Drawing/Writing and the new literacy Individually Scheduled Sessions Lectures & Courses, 2002 About Drawing/Writing Courses Drawing/Writing Courses offered through UMASS Continuing Education Drawing/Writing and the new literacy: BASIC. Drawing/Writing and the new literacy: INTERMEDIATE. Drawing/Writing and the new literacy: ADVANCED. How we educate the brain matters New Classrooms, New Teachers The Literate Mind The top is off the black box, let's look inside Basic Information Course Description General Instructional Goals of the Course for the Teacher Emotional, Social and Educational Instructional Goals for Teachers and Students in a Neuroconstructicist Classroom Overview Topics Measurable Outcomes Project/Paper Grading Course Schedule Biographical Information, Instructor Required reading Other useful readings

Please e-mail your questions or comments for Dr. Sheridan ssheridan@drawingwriting.com