My students have been newly assigned to a lab classroom, which means we will be trying out all sorts of practice activities--in brain-learning lingo, elaborative rehearsal--in order to build the neural networks necessary for complex literacy skill instruction and learning. For this reason, they need lots of practice in reading, writing, and speaking in many different settings.
I am passionate about the role of group talk in my classroom and believe that "whoever is doing the talking is doing the learning." For this reason, I give multiple daily opportunities for students to talk with a partner, in their small groups, or to the whole class about what they are learning and, even more importantly, how.
I stress metacognition and hope that, by talking about how they learn, my students will take away with them an understanding of what it means to be a life-long learner.
My Project
After seeing these group-sized white boards used in a peer's classroom, I knew they were just what my students needed to show their thinking and learning as they practice literacy skills in our English class.
Think, talk, write, and share!
This is the process I want my students engaged in over and over again. These extra-large white boards will allow student groups to share their thinking by engaging in gallery walks and "big-paper" share-outs in an environmentally-friendly way.
Without having to use paper and then trash it, students will be able to capture their group's thinking in color on a white board and then snap pics of their work on their phones to share later or to embed in online documents and projects.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Elder and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.