The #1 (tool all time for teaching)
** Not your ordinary, endless list – just what’s number 1.
The Chalkboard
Without a doubt, this “tool” was revolutionary and allowed public schooling to flourish. It did for teaching what the printing press did for journalism. Wow! Forget the computer, the projector, whiteboards, ipads and cell phones. The good old “slate” wins hands down. It is immortal and will always have a place of prominence in instruction.
In my teacher training, one of my fav. lessons is about “Using the Board”. Not as simple a thing as it sounds. Check out my presentation and see if you do all these things at all times (I don’t but continue to work at it!).
I ALWAYS put an agenda on the board. I have gotten lazy this year about putting the objective of the day, though. Thanks for reminding me how important this is!
I wasn’t clear, though, on exactly what you meant by putting your body at a right angle to the board.
E.N.
I’m still working on a lot of those things too!
What I meant about “right angles” is that the teacher can still monitor the class with a quick look. If you turn your back, you don’t know what might be happening. Most classes this is okay but good to make it a habit so you can monitor at the same time…
During my practice teaching, I wrote with my back turned and remember how after the lesson, I found dozens of spit balls on the board and on myself! Didn’t see them shooting! True story and if I’d been writing like I should have, they wouldn’t probably of dared!