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Kate, this was a presentation that I think describes me.  I love to doodle during classes and find that not only does it help me to concentrate, but to relieve anxieties such as boredom and frustration; especially when I would draw funny pictures of the teachers who were aggravating me.  But I think the real important part is to be sure we are allowing students opportunities to express themselves in ways that define them.  We should be promoting individual expression of thought, but I think we also need to couple that with an explanation of how it relates to what it is we are teaching.  However, I recognize the need to also deformalize educational processes sometimes in order for there to be a release.  Sometimes we have to let go of the old to get the new.  In the words of the immortal Homer Simpson...

"Marge, you know what happens when I try to learn new things. I forget how to do old stuff.  Like the time I learned how to make my own wine, I forgot how to drive."

(Marge's reply)  Homer!  You were drunk.