Thanks, Christine. You've outlined several good options for helping new teachers get the hang of boardwork: 1) Have them observe faculty who have good boardwork. 2) Have them analyze and discuss images of chalkboards. You found some really interesting ones. That first one is a doozy! 3) Observe them and give them feedback on their boardwork, perhaps by showing them notes that you took during their class. 4) Have them take a break during class, walk to the back of the room, and do a quick diagnosis of their boardwork thus far. 5) Have them read Krantz's piece on boardwork in "How to Teach Mathematics." All great ideas! I'm still on the hunt for a resource I can give to new TAs that provides some of the advice Krantz does, but illustrates it with images or video. I may just have to create one myself... Derek -- Derek Bruff, Ph.D. Assistant Director, Center for Teaching Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematics Vanderbilt University www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/ www.derekbruff.com/teachingwithcrs/ twitter.com/derekbruff   -----Original Message----- From: pstum-list-bounces(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu [mailto:pstum-list-bounces@lists.fas.harvard.edu] On Behalf Of Christine Latulippe Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 2:55 PM To: pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu Subject: [PSTUM-list] boardwork instructions I'm excited the list might be back in action! I also use Krantz's "How to Teach Mathematics" and students like his descriptions of sectioning off the boards. I have a couple of faculty members in our dept. who's boardwork I think is fabulous, and I have my GTAs observe other instructors twice each quarter. If someone is really struggling with their boardwork, I steer them towards those faculty members' classes. I had a thought about collecting images of peoples' boardwork to use for discussion, so I just googled "boardwork images". These three exhibit different pros and cons of boardwork, and might be good for discussion (they are all chalkboard, though, not whiteboard). http://www.maths.abdn.ac.uk/~spark/2006Boardwork%20005.jpg http://www.math.byu.edu/~peterson/Boardwork%201.jpg http://lh4.ggpht.com/_1AiAsLI6PeI/Rwm4YgSk0gI/AAAAAAAABGU/ivmw0obi1D4/P1010… When I observe GTAs teaching, I tend to pay attention to two aspects of boardwork, depending on when I drop into their classes. If I get there at the start, I like to make myself a little grid and mark where they move across the board. For some students, my notes look like 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 For other students, my notes might look like 1 2 5 3 4 When I show them my notes, we can have a discussion about efficient use of boardspace, and organization. Organization and clarity of writing usually boil down to slowing down, so sometimes I just have to help give GTAs permission to go over 5 examples each class instead of 8! If I get to a class in the middle of class, I check to see whether I can figure out what is going on based on the snapshot of the board when I enter the room. So I will copy down everything I see and start observing from there. If a student comes in late, or can't look away from the board without losing track of what's happening, there's probably a problem with the organization of the lecture and the organization of the board. I also encourage GTAs to walk to the back of the room while their boardwork is up (either at break, or at the end of class before they erase everything), and give themselves the same "snapshot check". How do things look? Do they follow what went on? Best, Christine On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 9:00 AM, &lt;pstum-list-request(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu&gt; wrote: > Send PSTUM-list mailing list submissions to >        pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit >        http://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/pstum-list > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to >        pstum-list-request(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu > > You can reach the person managing the list at >        pstum-list-owner(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of PSTUM-list digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > >   1. Resources on Chalkboard Technique? (Bruff, Derek O) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:28:55 -0600 > From: "Bruff, Derek O" &lt;derek.bruff(a)Vanderbilt.Edu&gt; > Subject: [PSTUM-list] Resources on Chalkboard Technique? > To: &quot;pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu&quot; >        &lt;pstum-list(a)lists.fas.harvard.edu&gt; > Message-ID: >        &lt;EB8466F614CE0A44A0DB470E7911435610F34DEBD3(a)ITS-HCWNEM04.ds.Vanderbilt.edu&gt; > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Yes, the Preparing and Supporting Teachers of Undergraduate Mathematics (PSTUM) listserv is still operational!  I have a question that, I think, is perfect for this listserv. > > Do you know of any good resources on good chalkboard / whiteboard techniques?  Ones worth sharing with grad students just learning good boardwork?  Steven Krantz has a good section on this subject in his book, How to Teach Mathematics, but it doesn't include any visual examples.  Know of any good resources along these lines? > > Thanks, > Derek > > -- > Derek Bruff, Ph.D. > Assistant Director, Center for Teaching > Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematics > Vanderbilt University > www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/<http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/> > www.derekbruff.com/teachingwithcrs/<http://www.derekbruff.com/teachingwi… > twitter.com/derekbruff<http://twitter.com/derekbruff> > >