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Board organising
Kevin Byrne
from Issue Twenty-two January 2002 ENGLISH TEACHING professional
The white or black board is such an integral part of our classrooms that most of us would probably
feel lost without it. It is an essential aid to learning and retention and can be used for brainstorming,
showing meaning, context, collocation, spelling, stress and a host of other things. Making the most of
this seemingly indispensable tool should surely be one of our main classroom aims. But if the board is
such an important classroom tool for teachers and students, how is it that there doesn't seem to be any
literature on how to use it, not even in the classic teaching manuals recommended to us all on our
initial training courses?
Teachers seem either to love or hate the board. Students appear to rely on it and demand all sorts of
outrageous things from us such as 3D visuals and spelling of very long words! But do we let our
scruffy handwriting, poor drawings and lack of organisation affect our use of the board? If so, what is
the remedy? Surely planning would be the answer, but how do you plan board work? Having 'Jackson
Pollocked' along with the best of them for much too long, I have finally found a possible solution.
Some teachers will be familiar with the idea of organising the board by dividing it into columns or in
the form of an U. I have adapted this effective method by dividing the board as shown in Figure 1
below, and allotting the different sections to the different parts of my lessons. The numbers show the
usual sequence of events in the lesson, though this sequence is by no means compulsory.

3b

4a
2

6a
4b

3a

6b

Figure 1
1 date
I elicit this from different students each lesson, providing good practice with days and months,
intonation and schwa, comparing ordinals with cardinals, etc. This is useful at all levels - once the
students know how to ask each other what the date is, why not let them do it?
2 last lesson

I use this section for feedback or a warmer, revising points from the previous class by asking 'What
did we do last lesson?' This is especially good for getting lower levels used to the past simple. You can
teach studied, looked at, finished, etc, or simply get them to tell you the things covered (using
simple constructions, ideally, but not necessarily, in English). At the same time I put some symbols or
prompts on the board. I like to use three boxes with positive, negative and question mark symbols
inside. You can point to the symbols at any time during the lesson to elicit phrases and forms from the
students, revise meaning and correct mistakes.
3a vocabulary
This section is for revising vocabulary, showing stress, collocations, etc. A fun activity is to rub out a
word or phrase on the board, replace it by 'stress balls', phonetic transcription or a little picture and
ask students to
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say what was there before. This can turn into an enjoyable duel between you and the students as they
quickly try to memorise a word or phrase before you finish rubbing it out. It is also a very good way
of getting them to remember (or write down) a word or phrase so as not to be caught out when you
erase it (you can even keep score). If no tricky vocabulary comes up, you can always use this space
for something else.
3b phrase of the day
Sometimes students produce some beautiful language and it's always nice to let the others share it. In
this section you can revise an utterance that was particularly funny or creative and then rub it out
when the next one comes along. This is a useful way of learning idioms and everyday expressions.
4a introduction
This could be used for the setting up of an activity, a prompt to get students thinking, for
brainstorming or for some type of warmer.
4b write and rub
This is the area where I put long phrases, sentences highlighting form or concord, sketches or
diagrams which, once they have been copied and dealt with, are removed (or reduced to small
icons) ready for the next. Depending on your aims, sentences can be rubbed out and replaced by a line
showing rhythm or by stress balls, taking the focus away from the written word and giving more
emphasis to the spoken.
Try to keep writing clear and natural why put everything in capitals when that's not how we usually
write? Try to imagine this area as a piece of lined paper and always start on the left: that way you
won't run out of space!
1 title
Once I have started the day's lesson, say after the first or second activity and before any focus on
grammar, if any, Id elicit a title. You could ask the students what they think today's lesson is about. If
they don't know, tell them. I like to make up the title during the lesson as this usually leads to some
funny and spontaneous phrases, but if you can't think of anything, you can simply write the topic,
theme or structure. I find that the title also ensures that we all know where we're heading.

6a this lesson
New grammar, forms and phonetics all go in this section. Once again I elicit and put prompts onto the
board, to be pointed at when needed for correction, highlighting, etc.
6b vocabulary/pictures
New words, phrases and phonetics that come up during the lesson can be reduced and put here in the
form of prompts, icons, etc. (***)
Using the completed board
Five minutes before the end of each lesson you can focus on the board, going over any part by getting
students to explain a certain prompt, point or word, and generally summing up the lesson. This
symmetry the opening' (date), and 'the closing' (summary) gives a solid cohesive structure to the
lesson, which adds a pleasant rhythm to the class as well as keeping us all active and alert, even at the
end.
It isn't necessary to stick rigidly to the '1 to 6b' structure. In each new lesson, the previous right-hand
column becomes the left hand column, as if you were sliding the board along and revealing a new
surface with the last part of the old one overlapping the new one.
Copying down the finished board onto a 'post-it' note doesn't take long and is a great way of keeping
track of things covered. It is then easily slipped into the relevant coursebook or diary with some
simple notes. This is excellent for monitoring and assessing your own teaching, and it enables you to
re-enter into the feeling of a lesson, helping you to plan the next one.
I see organised board designing as a kind of computer window, where you can click on the appropriate
icon and find the information required, using the students as the memory with you as backup. Gairns
and Redman assert that '... our memory for visual aids is extremely reliable and there
is little doubt that objects and
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images facilitate memory', and they recommend that the teacher should incorporate organised
recycling into lessons by way of a warmer using 'an appropriate retrieval cue'. They sum up by
mentioning how noting vocabulary chronologically might benefit some learners. This is what I
believe is happening here with the use of the prompts, images, etc, especially if students copy down
all of the finished board work - which I find happens quite often.
I personally use this board organisation system at all levels, with groups and especially individual
students. The response from both students and colleagues has been very positive. I have found that
students up to pre- intermediate level seem to respond particularly well to it, whereas higher level
students sometimes appear less interested, perhaps because they are more set in their ways and more
autonomous in their learning. However, all the students I teach, regardless of level, tell me the date
and what we did last lesson, and write a title in their books.
I must be honest, not all of my board work looks like that in Figure 1, but rare are the days when I
quickly scribble down some notes, promise not to let it happen again and clean the board before
anyone else can see it! I am sure that fabulous lessons exist without even using a board, but sooner or
later we all have to write something down. So what could be better than using that opportunity to give
your students a real active learning experience, which can be re-used throughout the lesson and into
the next?