I like white boards. I don’t know what it is about them. I have a class set of individual ones to for student to use at their desks, but now I bought larger ones to put around the room, for group work.
It’s awesome.
Perhaps it’s just the fact that its the start of the year, but I felt that getting students out of their seats and working on white boards around the room had much higher participation rate than having students work in groups at their desks.
Further, I can monitor student progress much better from anywhere in the room, and when I join a group, I’m standing WITH them, rather than over them, and it seems less threatening when I start asking questions to individuals.
I’m liking this.
Oh, and if you want to know where I bought my whiteboards:
Check out Lowe’s Thrifty White Hardboard Walls
$10.98 for an 8 ft x 4 ft board.
I cut them half to make TWO 4×4 boards, which is plenty big for group work.
I have enough board space now for 9 groups to work around the room.
Oh, and for more something more beautiful at home (yes, I’m a nerd who wants to mount a whiteboard at my home), I bought a glass table top from Ikea. But watch out for this. It’s heavy and the mounting hardware will cost more than the table top itself!
Such a timely post – I too am planning on using whiteboards in class for group work. I purchased an 4×8 piece of corrugated plastic and cut it down into some smaller pieces to be hung around the room. They are hanging around the room on hooks so they can be taken down and used at the desks if they want. I’m putting them into action tomorrow – can’t wait! Not sure how well they will hold up but couldn’t find the wall board you mentioned so figured I’d give this a try.
By: Michelle on September 9, 2010
at 8:30 pm
What sort of mounting hardware did you use to mount the glass table-top? Has it worked out well?
By: Jeffrey Hall on November 4, 2010
at 9:26 pm
I can’t remember where I got the mounting hardware from, since my partner is the one who researched and purchased it for me. But they are circular, with grooves cut into it, and very sturdy (unlike the mirror clips we were originally considering). The glass table-top on the wall does look very classy, and gets a lot of compliments. And the drywall and mounting studs are holding up very well.
By: JT on November 11, 2010
at 11:34 am
I love using whiteboards in my math classes. I have small ones for individual use and larger ones for group work. The large ones allow students to work together in groups and then present their work to the class, which I have them do frequently.
While I was going to college I used to work for the Home Depot. We sold 4′ x 8′ sheets of whiteboard for around $10 and actually cut them to size free of charge (some stores may charge a small fee.) I had many teachers who came in and took advantage of this service. It’s much easier than cutting them yourself, so let them do the work!
By: scottti on January 5, 2011
at 7:10 pm