Whiteboard it ...

I have been reading some articles and blogs on white-boarding.  It seems like a pretty simple concept and it reminds me of the old school slates that the one-room school houses used to have.  Each kid would have their own slate and chalk and could write their answers on the slate to show the teacher their work.  I see the white-boarding idea as the same thing.  I have tried a few different activities with the whiteboards and it has worked pretty well.  It is pretty simple; you give a group of kids a whiteboard and let them go.  It is a quick, unique and easy way to have students and/or groups of students answer questions, draw examples, demonstrate knowledge or apply material.  I love to have the students use pictures and symbols to answer questions too.  They love using the dry erase markers and write on these big sections of whiteboard.  Whiteboards are easy to erase and totally reusable.

To make the whiteboards simply go to a home improvement store and get two 4 x 8 sheet of mar lite (shower surround) and have your HS wood shop class cut it into sections.  They cost anywhere from $6.00 - $10.00 per sheet.  You can cut up some old T-shirts to use as erasers and then get some Dry-Erase markers.  You can be up and running for about $30.00-$40.00 easy!  The diagram of what I use in my class is for 2 different sized white-boards based on a class size of 24-32.  The large boards can be for up to 8 groups and 24 small boards to be used in pairs or individually.   The large boards are 32” x  24” and the smaller boards are 10.5” x  12”.  I have a diagram pic of the cut sheets below

 Here is an example of an activity I did in class just yesterday.  We have been learning about emotional management and have been learning skills to act “different” when we get angry, frustrated, anxious, etc.  The skill we are working on is Decision Making.  They have already seen a vodcast on the skills and we watched a clip from “According to Jim” from youtube (see “Using YOUTUBE to help YOUTEACH”).  Now we are looking at making good decisions. 

I gave them a decision making worksheet (click here) and they had to come up with 6 choices concerning a situation I gave them.  The idea is to show there are always options … good ones and bad ones but there are always options.  They filled out the worksheet in pairs and then I had them write down the options they came up with AND draw a stick figure picture to represent each choice.  They also needed to somehow identify the option they felt was the best for the situation.  I then had them bring their boards up to the front and display them on the front board as we discussed their choices.  Again, the point was to show how many options they have in any given situation and to practice their decision making skills.  He kids had a blast using the whiteboards and coming up with pics to create for their options.  Some get pretty creative like “Throwing a Monkey at them” …. ;-) 

The white-boarding activity can be used for lots of different things and it puts the creating in their hands.  Instead of me at the front writing things, they can be doing it at their desks in pairs, groups or individually.  You can use it for review games, content games, graphic organizing, Pictionary activities, etc.  The sky is the limit.  Having a quantity of markers is a plus but even one color is fine.  The kids just like doing stuff on the boards.  Here is where you see your art kids shine in class!!

Give White-boarding a try.  You are only limited to your imagination.