Teaching Tips

Whiteboarding Tip 1: The Museum or Gallery Walk Method

In a museum or gallery walk, student groups line up their whiteboards, propping them against the wall or on a chair. All students walk past each whiteboard and discuss what they see. This gives all students a chance to view and discuss everyone’s work. The groups then come together as a class and discuss their observations. The whole-class discussion may provide students with ideas for improving their own work.

This method has worked well during teacher professional development sessions. For example, after reading papers on leadership and discussing several aspects of leadership, teachers were asked what they thought were the main features of a teacher leader. Teacher groups summarized their ideas on whiteboards, and placed them against the wall as a display. They then walked around the gallery of whiteboards, and added comments using post-it notes.

Reference: Henry, D., Henry, J., & Riddoch, S. (2006). Whiteboarding your way to great student discussions. Science Scope, 29 (7), 50-53.

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