Sometimes my math thinking is bigger than paper

As the paint dried and the press board curled up in the sun, I wondered if the homemade white boards were a mistake. It turns out that for under a hundred dollars, these budget white boards have solved more problems than I thought possible. A few months into the school year, I am sold. The whiteboards put math power directly in my students’ eighth grade hands in ways I’ve never seen before. 

These erasable surfaces seem to facilitate the kind of productive struggle Jo Boaler describes in her new book Limitless Mind. She writes about “the role of struggle and and error in transforming people from beginners to experts.”

One day I saw Sam proceed from one corner of his board to another, conserving every false start he made at seeing how a pattern changed and stayed the same until he was satisfied he had identified a constant, a coefficient and a variable. Neuroscience tells us that this kind of mistake-filled deliberate practice is what creates powerful new pathways neuronal pathways in the brain.

Students tell me ‘whiteboards make math easier when the math isn’t easy.’  I have seen students combine the write-on surface with manipulatives as they struggle to annotate patterns they find. They use the markers to keep track what they call ‘little numbers’ while deep in problem solving.  One day while doing a card-matching task, groups used the surface to debate and create categories they could see and agree on. I have one student who makes rectangles every day to keep his workspace organized.  He tells me it helps him to know where his tools are. Students also take photos of their thinking when the homework is to create a final draft of that day’s task. 

The whiteboards make tracking students’ thinking easier for me too. From across the room, I can see students’ problem-solving. I can think on my feet and make decisions about which desks I will showcase so that students can see each others’ ideas. Many of my 8th graders don’t like stand in front of the class with their work, but don’t mind when others travel to them. If we run out of time to talk about the math on the whiteboards, or if I can’t make decisions quickly enough, I snap a few photos with my cell phone and project them the next day to get the most of students’ ideas.  

The whiteboards have also addressed perennial middle school issues that have nothing to do with math. Instead of spending my energy handing out pencils and providing paper, everything students need to do math is right there, to share, all day long. As a result, more of my attention is available for listening to and looking for and teaching the tools students need for math thinking. 

It hasn’t been all rainbows and ponies, however. Some days way too much of my attention goes to interrupting eraser rags turned waving flags, arresting elaborate doodling, and markers that placed end to end can tap a classmate seated two arm-lengths distant.  At the beginning of the year, I established that whiteboards and markers would be for math only.  I created an irresistible ‘rule to break,’ and I’ve had a few students spend more time than I’d like ‘inviting’ my attention with rule breaking.

Today, when I wondered aloud whether the whiteboards were worth it, my students admitted the challenges and most defended the tool as extremely important for their math learning. Among the challenges, they listed the distracting things they do with the markers:  tapping, scratching, and drawing SpongeBob memes.  On the other hand, Amber wrote, “Sometimes my math is bigger than paper. Whiteboards hold more of my ideas.”  Thomas said, “The whiteboard helps me make mistakes I can feel good about.” Carlos wrote, “On the whiteboard, mistakes are for learning. They aren’t permanent.” Oli asserted that “Writing on the whiteboard helps me think better and visualize.”  Sahla liked that she could write down an idea right away instead of losing track of it while she takes the time to get out paper. 

Most of my students appreciate the time they save by being able to start problem-solving on whiteboards right away. And since five minutes is like three years in teacher time, the time-saving aspect alone seems worth the effort.  If I have convinced you, find a covered space equal to the area of your desktops, buy the stuff below and get busy.

• 1/4 inch pressboard, cut into six or eight pieces (instead of trying to match desk dimensions I opted for a shy match to the depth with a few inches of reveal on each side.  The panel saw guy at Home Depot cut it for me.)
• Rust-oleum Dry-Erase paint (check the date — reviews say it works best if it is less that a year old.)
• All-purpose white primer.
• Smooth surface disposable rollers. 
• Super-sticky velcro (optional)

I followed the directions on the primer and the Rust-oleum paint.  I lightly sanded the pressboard and I let both primer and paint cure for two days before re-coating. Two cans were enough paint for 2 coats on 32 desktop boards. I panicked when every board curled up like the back side of a kale leaf, but it turned out to be moisture absorbed from the ground.  The boards relaxed once I brought them indoors, but not for a week. In the meantime, I saved my project by velcro-ing boards to the desks.  It took an hour (nine days of teacher time) and wasn’t absolutely necessary, but it does help the boards stay put as my middle schoolers shift in their seats or drop their binders. I also taped the edges as I thought they would be scratchy.  This also wasn’t necessary.  Instead of that step, you could use your time for planning lessons that inspire your students to make their math thinking visible.