It started with a picture and a hashtag.  The picture showed a classroom whiteboard with an inspirational quote written decoratively on it.  The hashtag was #whiteboardwisdom. Since I love alliteration, quotes, and anything that might make me wiser, I searched the hashtag on Twitter.  Of course, that delivered many more motivational messages, and I resolved to see if any of my students would like to be in charge of providing a weekly #whiteboardwisdom.  That seemed kind of humdrum, though, so I did a Google search for #whiteboardwisdom in the classroom.  And that’s how I ended up here, a Pinterest rabbit hole of teacher and student creativity that I never even knew existed.

Many of the pins that I saw seemed to be inspired by a teacher named Brittney Briggs, who is incredibly creative and artistic from what I can see.  The common thread among all of the images in this Pinterest smorgasbord was that they invited student interaction instead of merely giving them something to think about.  Sometimes the students respond directly on the board, and other times the teachers offer sticky notes for responses.  Although I certainly can’t do justice to all of the great ideas out there, here is a sampling I chose to demonstrate this fun concept:

• Monday Made It – What is the Coolest Thing You Have Ever Made?

  

   

• Tell Us Something Tuesday – One Thing That Most People Don’t Know About You?

  

• What Will You Create Wednesday – Find a Doodle and Turn it into a Masterpiece!

  

   

• Theme Song Thursday – What Should Be Our Class Theme Song?

  

• Finding Dory Friday – What is Something You Lose or Forget to Do Often?