Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces and Mini White Boards

Description:

Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces are a great way to get students up out of their desks. Students can record thoughts quickly and modify their work with ease using whiteboards. Peter Liljedahl (2015) stated “groups that worked on vertical whiteboards demonstrated more thinking classroom behaviour – persistence, discussion, participation, and knowledge mobility – than any of the other type of work surface.” When students are working in groups out of their desks the vertical surfaces allow them to see what other groups are doing. No one can “hide” in this setting. Groups are more likely to talk to each other and surrounding groups when they are up out of their desks. Teachers can quickly assess student understanding when work is placed on a vertical surface. Liljedahl also showed the that horizontal whiteboards are also conducive to learning. Mini whiteboards are a great way for students to be quickly assessed on what they know. They can do the work horizontally and quickly make their boards horizontal to share with the teacher or their peers.

Examples:

Types of questions that can be given for work on these surfaces:

• Which one doesn’t belong
• Accessing prior knowledge
• I do, we do, you do: Modeling questions from the lesson
  • Students would use the whiteboards during the “we do” phase of this teaching strategy
• My Favorite No Video
• Peter Liljedahl (2015) Building Thinking Classrooms: Conditions for Problem Solving. (Download PDF here)