Why Your Classroom Needs a Mobile Whiteboard
Michelle is a high school teacher in Brisbane, Queensland. In 2021, she came up with an innovative solution to help her Year 12 students with writing their major essay on
Shakespeare.
Summary
My name is Michelle and I’m an English high school teacher. Every year, my Year 12 students need to write an essay about a Shakespeare play. And every year, most of my cohort find this task extremely challenging. Last year, the essay topic was as follows:
Hamlet’s behaviour throughout the play has unintended consequences. Critically discuss the extent to which you
agree with the above statement.
The Problem
Now, just the thought of having to write something about Shakespeare gives a lot of students cause for alarm. They struggle with the old-fashioned language and the complexity of the characters and themes.
But last year’s question was particularly tough – note the words ‘throughout the play’. The students couldn’t just look at a single example of behaviour. They had to find multiple examples and then find a way to seamlessly connect them together to form one cogent argument.
I’m passionate about teaching and am always looking for ways to help and support my students. I asked myself, ‘What can I do to make this task less stressful?’
I thought about some different ideas and options. Out of all of these, the best solution was to divide the play into four sections and the class into four groups. Each class group had a questions list that focused on their specific section of the play.
Each group would need to write potential answers down, examine those ideas together and then choose the best ones. Then, as a group, they would report back to the class on their section.
The obvious solution for writing down answers was to use whiteboards. The problem was I only had one whiteboard, mounted on the wall at the front of the classroom. To make my idea work, I needed four mobile whiteboards.
The Solution
The English department doesn’t have mobile whiteboards – our building has wall mounted ones. I knew that the principal had already spent the resources budget for the year, and so going to see her to ask to buy new ones would be a waste of time.
Fortunately, the science department has labs that use mobile whiteboards. I was able to have a chat with Jeff, the Science Head of Department, and he gave me permission to use four of their mobile whiteboards temporarily.
I found out that they had gotten their mobile whiteboards two years before. Jeff put in a requisition order, and as per purchasing guidelines, he got two quotes. One company was difficult to deal with because they were always slow to respond to emails.
The other company, JustBoards, were the complete opposite. They always responded promptly and their pricing was very competitive, so Jeff went with them.
The Results
The really good news is that my plan worked! On the day of the group discussion class, I divided the room into four sections, each with a mobile whiteboard. When it came time for the students to join in the group discussions, every group benefited greatly by having their own mobile whiteboard to use.
I thought students might take turns standing at their perspective whiteboards while the rest of the group watched, write some notes, and then hand off their marker to someone else.
Actually, the students were so eager to participate, they all got out of their chairs, crowded around their whiteboards, and engaged in energetic debate. I’d planned to have one marker per group – but because multiple people in each group wanted to all write at the same time, I had to find more markers to hand out!
It has been decided that this teaching methodology works so well, it will be incorporated on a permanent basis in our curriculum whenever senior students need to prepare to write a major essay.
As soon as school started again in 2022, I put in a requisition order for the English Department to acquire four mobile whiteboards. While I had to supply two quotes, it was easy to decide who to buy from. I rang JustBoards and Alana was really great to deal with, giving me helpful advice about the different writing surfaces, whiteboard sizes, and construction options.
The boards will be arriving shortly – after only a few days – and I’m really happy with how JustBoards were so willing to provide the expertise and service I was looking for.
Why choose a JustBoards mobile whiteboard?
JustBoards will help you find the best solutions. We offer Australia wide delivery to your door. Contact us today on 1800 654 917 or at info@justboards.com.au.
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