Vertical Non-Permanent Surfaces

One thing that I realized quite early on in my teaching career was that individual desks didn't support my idea of a collaborative classroom. I remember during my first contract, getting rid of all my desks and scrounging for tables all over the school. My collection of mismatched tables was definitely a sight to be seen. Thankfully many schools now seem to be investing in tables as an alternative to desks for classrooms! While tables do encourage collaboration, and open up opportunities for our learners, there is something to be said about the limitation they share with desks- you have to look down. When students work at their desk and especially when they work together, they often crowd over the tables, blocking the learning you hope to see. In "Thinking Classrooms" (Liljedahl, 2017) students use wall whiteboards, chalkboards and/or windows to engage in problem solving to make thinking visible. When using a Vertical Surface for learning rather than a table; "you're not protecting you're understanding, you're sharing you're understanding (Collins, 2018). After watching the video below, its important to note that these vertical learning spaces will not be successful in creating a thinking classroom, if they are not paired with rich learning tasks (Edutopia, 2018).

Using vertical non-permanent surfaces can help build strong math communities by:

• Encouraging engagement.

• Making student learning visible.

• Encouraging collaboration.

• Giving struggling learners the opportunity to see strategies in action.

• Giving learners the opportunity to practice safe risk taking.

• Allowing for teacher observation. Helps with classroom management.

It's important to note that this instructional strategy is only one small part of Peter Liljedahl's "Building a Thinking Classroom" (Liljedahl, 2017).

The challenge?

Where do I find these vertical spaces? One thing I personally struggle with in my classroom is wall space. I love to use my walls to document student learning so the idea of keeping them open and blank doesn't really work for my space. I also only have two large whiteboards at the front of my room...if you know me, I love a classroom design challenge!

Teachers are a creative bunch and when there's a will there's a way!

A great way to get around this obstacle, and less costly than purchasing whiteboards is to use a Wipebook Flipchart. I was gifted a Wipebook Flipchart two years ago, they are brilliant! What I love is that the Flipchart is actually a pack of sheets/posters that you can separate. They are lightweight and can be easily pinned over top of what you have on your wall spaces. Put them up when you need them, take them down when you don't. I also love them because they can turn any space into a thinking classroom space-every once and a while, I will take my lesson to the hallway, and tape the sheets up along the hallway walls. I love using the hallway as an additional learning space and you can leave your Wipebook pages up to share your students thinking with your school community. I should also mention that they are doubled sided-blank on one side and grid on the other.

Need more whiteboard space? Check out Wipebooks!

Edutopia. (2018, September 19th). Learning on Your Feet. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ri1vNQBk6I

Liljedahl, P. (2017). Building Thinking Classrooms. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-thinking-classroom-math