Tips and Hints to get the best out of teaching with Individuals whiteboards
Individual student whiteboards are the 21st-century version of the chalk slates used by students in colonial times. As thousands of teachers have found, whiteboards are a great way of actively involving students in the learning process and a terrific tool for immediate feedback and assessment.
So here are some tips to get the most out of using individual dry-wipe boards, such as our Show-Me boards, as a teaching tool.
- You will need a ready supply of dry-erase markers. The markers can be kept in a communal place and handed out at the beginning of the lesson or you can encourage responsibility by giving each child their own marker to keep in their desk/bag/locker
- Provide a ready supply of paper towels or tissues for cleaning the boards. Alternatively, you could have each child bring an old sock from home (let’s face it, we’ve all got at least one odd sock somewhere!). They can use the sock as their eraser and possibly keep their marker/s in the sock when they’re not using them. Make sure the boards are wiped after use otherwise they may stain (tips to follow later on removing stains from a whiteboard)
- Determine in advance whether students will keep the whiteboards in their desks or in a common area of the classroom. If you keep them in a common area, students might write their names on their whiteboards at the end of each activity. Wherever you keep them, place each whiteboard in a re-sealable storage bag (like a sandwich bag) along with a sock and a marker.
- Set pupils a question to answer (perhaps on your main whiteboard) before you give the boards out. It gets them focused straight away
* Alternatively, if they have the creative urge to draw pictures; embrace it. Lots of children, particularly younger ones, will be unable to resist the urge to scribble/doodle when given a blank board. So give them one minute to draw the best picture of something — perhaps related to the lesson you’re about to give, perhaps not. This will hopefully get the urge to draw out of their systems and they know they get the time to fulfil their creative desires and then they will focus on the question in hand.
* Get them to answer their question on the mini-whiteboard but then to all raise them together. This means pupils can’t copy the answer.
* Go around the room and grab a selection of whiteboards with answers on. Some correct ones and some with misconceptions. Shuffle them, then discuss key issues. That way it is not immediately obvious whose wrong answer you are discussing. The pupils often then feel less worried about making mistakes and are more willing to have a go.
* Don’t forget, individual dry-wipe boards are not only useful for teaching and learning. It’s also worth keeping them handy for rainy break times for games of noughts and crosses or hangman or even a more organised quiz.
For our full range Show-Me individual dry-wipe boards, visit www.theofficesuppliessupermarket.com
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