REMARKABLE'S WHITEBOARD PAINT BLOG

Dry Erase Paint for Classroom Makeovers: Back-to-School Hacks Teachers Love

With back to school just around the corner, many teachers are thinking about how they can use dry erase paint to transform their classroom décor and teaching methods. Interior makeovers and new teaching strategies employing whiteboard paint can be as creative as your imagination allows.

So-called “life hacks” are about reducing life’s complexities through simple, pleasantly clever techniques. The best hacks are efficient and cost free or inexpensive. They make use of common household items (e.g., toilet paper rolls) for purposes far beyond their normal functions. The following are some simple hacks you can use to reinvent your students’ classroom experience and improve their learning outcomes with premium whiteboard paint.

1. Use Masking Tape to Create Mini Whiteboard Sections with Dry Erase Paint
Classrooms typically have a layout that measures around 30 feet by 30 feet. Ceiling height is usually about 9 feet. So, if you coat one classroom wall with dry erase paint, you’ll end up with 270 square feet of writing area for you and your students to use. And if you coat all the walls in your classroom, you’ll have a whopping 1,080 square feet of writing surface!

Either way you go, you’ll have ample room to use masking tape for making multiple zones on one or more walls for different subjects, projects, or small groups. You can employ masking tape to create squares or rectangles on your whiteboard wall to subdivide your sections.

You could also use easy-to-remove washi tape to create segments for small group task activities. The tape will hold up well without damaging your whiteboard painted surface. Washi tapes are decorative tapes made of rice paper that are available in many colorful and unique designs. Using washi tape will add a touch of interest and excitement to your wall sections that should inspire greater student interaction and creative thinking.

If you’re planning to use tape to create mini whiteboard sections on your wall, it’s fine to do so. However, if you want to take away the sections some day, you’ll need to clean off the tape residue. To remove tape from your dry erase wall, carefully pull off as much of the tape as possible then wipe off the surface with a dry microfiber cloth. Next apply some cooking spray to the areas on the surface that may have some remaining tape residue and do a second wipe down. Lastly, wipe off the wall a third time with a wet microfiber cloth.

2. Color-Code Student Tasks with Marker Bands
Wrap markers with colored tape to quickly assign tasks or subjects. Use different-colored dry erase markers wrapped with various colors of tape to code different teaching points, subjects or activities. Studies show a link between color coding, students’ memory, and their ability to focus on essential ideas and data taught in class. Creative use of this approach can help learners to retain and transfer knowledge, and differentiate among different facts and concepts.

So how do you go about developing a well-designed color-coding system to help your students learn and improve their academic growth? Let’s look at some ways to use color coding with your dry erase wall that will make the school year a more colorful experience for you and your students.

Assigning a single color of dry erase marker ink to each subject you teach during the day can help learners save time when making transitions in the daily schedule. For example, you may designate the color blue for English, language arts, and reading (ELAR). Then if you pull out your blue markers when it’s time to switch from math to ELAR, the students will know to take out their blue ELAR folders. In this way they won’t need to wonder what’s coming up next on the class schedule.

Naturally, you can take color coding further by creating a color-coded calendar that divides the day according to subject (and color). Moreover, you might use color coding in students’ lesson planners and folders to correspond with the specific colors on your color-coded markers.

3. Turn Students’ Desk Tops into Personal Whiteboards

Apply dry erase paint to students’ desk tops so they can do instant problem-solving and other class work. After getting the appropriate clearance, your school’s maintenance crew can convert students’ desks into durable whiteboard painted surfaces. There the class can work on lessons, take notes, record their homework assignments, and do an endless variety of other tasks.

Besides being less costly and more environmentally friendly than traditional framed whiteboards, whiteboard painted desks draw students’ attention and help them focus on their studies. The novelty of the experience never wears off, as the children are free to write or draw whatever creative inspirations come to mind between their lessons.

4. Create Student Challenges with Your Whiteboard Wall and Sticky Notes
Use your dry erase painted wall as a dynamic medium for creating challenge zones. A class functions better and a lot more learning occurs when students are operating in their so-called “challenge zones.” And well-designed and -implemented academic challenges allow students to spend more time in these zones.

The following is a model of the task challenge zones and their related levels of learning:
Comfort Zone: Tasks are easy to do, comfortable, and pleasant – little learning occurs here.
Challenge Zone: Tasks are difficult enough to push the boundaries of students’ cognitive abilities and academic skills and maintain active engagement – much learning and growth occurs in this zone.

Panic Zone: Tasks are beyond students’ present abilities, so anxiety and fear set in and students feel overwhelmed then shut down – little learning occurs here.

A technique that makes use of this approach is called challenge-based learning (CBL), a dynamic way to engage students in the classroom. CBL promotes active class participation, critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and, more importantly, a feeling of purpose for students. By engaging in boundary-pushing in meaningful tasks, students cultivate the essential skills needed to prosper in a society where nonstop learning is essential. The challenge-based learning approach can be adapted to any subject or grade level and provides a structure where students discover a problem, ask questions, and carry out inquiries that lead to a projected solution. Then, they put their solution into action to produce change in their school or local community. When students have the chance to identify a problem, they feel more empowered to learn and achieve an outcome.

Walls coated with dry erase paint are ideal tools for creating challenge zones for your students. To begin a challenge-based project, you’ll need to generate a “big idea” that captures students’ imagination and interest and addresses a real-world issue like the environmental crisis or social inequity. On the vast canvas of your whiteboard wall, students can easily brainstorm potential contenders for the big idea.

At the beginning of the school year, you may ask your students, “What are some major issues that are currently impacting our community and planet?” Next divide the class into small groups. Then, the students can then let their imaginations run wild with a stream of ideas and jot them down on your dry erase wall. They can also use sticky notes to add more ideas later.

Once they’ve generated a big group of thoughts they can develop “How can we…?” questions based on those thoughts. The students may share their questions to promote discussion and use the questions throughout the year to develop challenges within your units of study.

The comfort zone model delineates the three zones that are typical in any new learning situation. Explain to your students that learning most often occurs in the challenge zone, where they feel uncomfortable, nervous, and tested. In this way you’ll help to them prepare for the nervousness they’ll feel when they enter the world of work. Hopefully, it will allow them to adapt more easily to new careers and lead to a bright future.

Summary