⬜️ ✍️ The joy of dry erase boards

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💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

⬜️ ✍️ The joy of dry erase boards

As much as I love technology and the possibilities it creates, I still love LOTS of non-tech teaching techniques.

When I was teaching high school Spanish last semester, I got to pull out one of my favorite materials …

Dry erase boards.

I had a stack of lap whiteboards so that each student could have one.

Plus, I was fortunate that my classroom had LOTS of them on the walls. (And I even added extra dry erase board space. More on that later.)

I have lots of reasons to love them:

• They’re a change of pace, different from the paper/pencil and Chromebooks students use in most classes.

• They’re impermanent, so students feel more confident to try things and make mistakes.

• They spark creativity — and give lots of opportunity for drawing and personal flair.

Plus, research shows that handwriting lights up your brain regions responsible for movement, vision, sensory processing and memory.

Here’s how I used them in class:

In direct instruction

I LOVE using storytelling to get students repetitions with vocabulary and grammar in Spanish.

Instead of just telling the story, I use my big dry erase board in front of the class to illustrate the stories.

My doodles would never be considered “art.” But they get the idea across. Plus, it makes new concepts — and the story itself — more verbal/visual.

For quick practice

This is where the lap dry erase boards come in handy.

Pretty regularly, I told students, “Go grab a board, marker and eraser … and draw me a pretty picture on it.”

• The picture made this transition period more fun.

• It filled the transition time (no matter how long it took you to get your materials).

• Plus, on the practical side, it let them test their marker out to make sure it worked!

We would do a wide variety of quick practice drills — verb conjugation, vocab recall, grouping, matching, sentence writing.

Students got instant feedback from me — and I got to use it as a quick formative assessment.

To practice writing (rotating stories)

This was one of my very FAVORITE activities — rotating stories.

I divided all of our wall dry erase boards into numbered sections so each student had a section.

Then, we started writing. I gave students prompts on what they should write about — “Write a sentence saying there’s a boy … and another sentence saying what his name is.”

The prompts were more open-ended the older and more advanced the students got.

When they finished the prompt, we all rotated to the next numbered section (usually to the left). They read the story and then wrote about the next prompt I gave them.

Other fun things we added to the stories:

• Illustrations. (Draw a picture of the character, of the scene, etc.)

• Ratings. “Go back to your original story and read what everyone wrote on it. Give it a rating from 1 to 10.”

What if I don’t have dry erase boards?

There are lots of alternatives I’ve seen teachers use …

• Some will use desktops of student desks as the individual dry erase boards. (Try this out before you use it, though!)

• I’ve used sheet protectors with a sheet of printer paper in them as individual dry erase boards. (Not the best, but definitely the least expensive option.)

• I added wall dry erase boards by purchasing a Wipebook. They’re laminated sheets that you can hang on your wall. You get 10 sheets per Wipebook. The original ones are $64.99, but I splurged on the heavy duty ones ($149.99) so they would hold up.

• I guess you could run large sheets of paper (like bulletin board paper) through a laminator and get something like this. Haven’t tried it, but it might work!

How do you use dry erase boards? What are your alternatives?

I’d love to hear what you do! Just hit reply to this email and tell me. I’ll share the best responses in a future email!

💻 TECH TIP 💻

🏖️An alternative to Jamboard: Padlet Sandbox

What is Padlet Sandbox?

Padlet Sandbox is a digital tool that allows users to create and collaborate on a blank canvas. It supports drawing, writing, and adding various media types, making it a dynamic platform for classroom activities.

🔑 Key Features

1. Collaborative Canvas: Teachers and students can draw, type, and add images or videos in real-time.

2. Cards: Content is organized into separate pages called cards, which can be ordered to create a structured flow.

3. Play Mode: This feature allows users to present their cards in sequence, ideal for lessons and presentations.

4. 20+ Tools: Includes tools for drawing, typing, sticky notes, shapes, AI image generation, video uploads, and voice recordings.

💡Using Sandbox in class

1. Doodling and Whiteboarding: Great for brainstorming sessions and visual learning. See this example Venn Diagram.

2. Creating Lessons and Presentations: Teachers can design interactive lessons and storybooks. See this example exploring the Solar System lesson plan

3. Interactive activities and games: Engage students with engaging activities and educational games. See these example Jeopardy Game and Interactive Document.

See more examples

Click the + Make button in the header at the top of your dashboard. Next, click See examples in the Blank sandbox area.

💻 Sandbox as a Google Jamboard alternative

• Sandbox has all the Jamboard features you already love.

• Import all your jamboards in one click.

• Padlet Sandbox integrates seamlessly with Google Classroom making it easy to transition and enhance existing digital teaching tools.

👋 How we can help

There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:

1. Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.

2. Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.

3. Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!