My goal is to increase student engagement and collaboration by providing vertical whiteboards that encourage students to actively participate, share their thinking, and work together to solve problems. The whiteboards will serve as a tool to create opportunities for students to communicate their ideas, learn from one another, and build confidence. A district initiative is the SWIRL instructional framework in which students are encouraged to Speak, Write, Interact, Read, and Listen. These whiteboards will give students an opportunity to engage in each of these 5 ways with academic content. These boards give students the opportunity to share their thinking with the whole class, not just verbally, but also visually.
Students will use vertical whiteboards during daily instruction to work through collaborative problem solving tasks. The vertical whiteboards will provide a space for students to share their thinking and strategies with their classmates. Using these whiteboards, students' thinking will be made visible to encourage participation, meaningful discussion, and to provide another strategy for students to engage with challenging academic content. Students will be able to respond to teacher questions on whiteboards by first discussing their response, and then collaborating to develop a written response or explanation to better answer questions. In addition, boards can be used to allow students to Jigsaw different concepts as another method of instruction.
Vertical whiteboards will benefit students by increasing engagement, encouraging collaboration, and creating more opportunities for active learning. Students will be able to share their thinking, evaluate different viewpoints, and learn from their peers in an environment where collaboration is encouraged. I expect to see students' confidence grow and their ability to have collaborative discussions increase. More specifically, I will track student progress through their performance on ELA assessments, assignments, homework, and by listening in on collaborative discussions. I expect to notice that my instruction is more engaging and enjoyable for students as well.
Funding will be used to purchase 6 standing whiteboards for my classroom. This will allow students to work around the room in small groups at various whiteboards. Each whiteboard costs $54.99 for a total of $329.94. These funds will benefit all 40 of my students.
