10 lesson ideas for IWB (try one a week for the next half-term)

1.Focus circle2.Categories3.Label race4.Kim’s game5.Mix, match and memorize6.Guess the sentence7.Celebrity speech bubbles8.Scratchcard9.Box of truth10.9 livesI have demonstrated each technique with a different topic, but bear in mind youcan adapt the content as you please (or even better, work together as a team withother colleagues, assistants, older students, to build up a bank of these activitiesthroughout your Scheme of Work).Examples of each activity are to be found as PowerPoints onwww.scribd.com.Search for Magpie41 and click on the “people” tab and you will have access to allmy documents on scribd. The document relating to this sheet is called “10 IWBlesson ideas”. You can download this as aPowerPoint and then import into your whiteboard software. Bear in mind you may need to do some “chunking down” of the material for it to work interactively.Focus CircleDrag an empty circle from “shared shapes” in the resources area and enlarge it. Now scatter a number of words and pictures connected to your topic around thecircle. In my example I have chosen environment. You can use different fontsand sizes to make it more attractive. Challenge students to write as manysentences as they can within an allocated time. Each sentence must use one of thewords from around the circle. The pictures are for inspiration! Tip: once theyrealise they can get more points simply by using different parts of a verb you willfind them surprisingly keen to conjugate! Insist every sentence be written out infull.CategoriesEstablish 2, 3 or 4 different areas on the board by dragging in shapes, drawingshapes or colouring in freeform areas of highlighter. Provide up to 16 labels of typed text. For example my categories are rooms in the house, and my labels arehousehold chores that are usually done there. Ask students to drag labels intocorrect area. Refinement: sometimes your categories may overlap, like a Venndiagramme, which is also a great way to approach it. You can “programme” your flipchart to make incorrect items jump out of an area if you have some time andare confident with IT, but it works just a well led by the teacher.

Label raceTake a camera shot or shots of an item or items from your topic (in my example,classroom objects). Create separate vocabulary labels and ask students to dragthem into correct position against the clock. Refinement: you can colour codeyour labels to emphasise gender if appropriate. You could hide labels under alocked shape so that students have to find them first. This works particularly wellwith finger-sensitive Smart boards when you can have two teams dragging at thesame time onto identical pictures.Kim’s gameAssemble 10 images you have perhaps already used as flashcards onto oneflipchart page (in my example, shops). Duplicate that flipchart page several times. Now go back to your second page and remove a picture. Ask students to work outwhich image is missing. Tip: once you have removed an image, move the othersaround a bit so it isn’t too obvious what has gone. You can increase the number of images depending on the level of the class.Mix, match and memorizeDivide your flipchart page in half vertically (you can use the pen modifier tool).Create seven question labels on the left side, and seven answer labels on the right.My example is on where you live. Now mix up the answer labels so they are inthe wrong order. Drag a rectangle onto your flipchart from shared shapes andstretch to the right size to blank out the questions only. In the lesson, drag therectangle down a little to reveal the first question. Invite students to find theanswer. Now get the class to repeat the question and the answer. Move on toquestion two, and get students to repeat question and snwer two, followed byquestion and answer one. Continue down the page until the class can repeat thewhole series of questions in reverse order with appropriate asnwers. They shouldthen be able to have a go without seeing the flipchart! Tip: do not reorder theanswers at any stage! The game element of this is maintained by students havingto find the answer quickly every time they repeat it. Don’t be put off, this activityisn’t as complicated as it sounds!Guess the sentence.Type two similar sentences one above the other onto the flipchart page in verylarge font with words spaced at identical intervals. My example is on dailyroutine. Divide the class into two teams, one working out the top sentence, oneworking out the bottom. Use the blind tool horizontally from the left (or a shapeyou have dragged on or even a relevant image) to reveal one word. Allow eachteam in turn to predict what their next word will be and award points (2 for correct, 1 for incorrect but plausible and maybe bonus points for a “better” wordthan yours in terms of scoring points at GCSE if appropriate). This developsessential predictive and deductive reading skills as well as creativity andindependence in writing. Tip: stop the activity after two or three words and ask students to make explicit how they are “guessing” what comes next. This willhelp the weaker students to learn to apply the logic themselves.

Celebrity speech bubblesIf your software allows it, take a “cut out” or “freehand” snapshot of twocelebrities (choose two with contrasting lifestyles, appearance or values). If youcan’t do a cut-out an ordinary image will do. Now draw or drag on large speechor thought bubbles for each of them. Provide a range of labels below, sufficient tomake a variety of complete sentences on your topic (my example is daily routine). Now ask students to drag on words to make sentences the celebs might say aboutthemselves. Refinement: this can be played as a team game, if you ask teamcaptains to drag on one word at a time, taking it in turns. A team concedes a pointto the other team if they choose an incorrect or inappropriate word.ScratchcardDrag a number of pictures from your topic onto the flipchart and type labels beneath. My example is with food. Then colour the page background to a shadeexactly matching one of your pen colours (you may need to customize the number of colours available in your floating toolbar to do this). Now select the samecolour pen and a sufficient pen width to blank out your labels easily. Your labelsshould now be invisible, as they are the same colour as the background. Nowwhen a student “scratches” over the label area with the erasor s/he will reveal thehidden answer. Refinement: you can use this technique on flashcards too, as away of gradually revealing an image and eliciting a number of guesses fromstudents, or on quizes.Box of truthThis is probably the most challenging technique on the list, so try it after you havemastered a few others. Drag a rectangle onto the flipchart. Double click on it tosee the “object edit” box, and select the properties or appearance to add an outlineto the shape. Now colour the page the same colour as the rectangle (inPromethean the obvious thing to do is make the page black to match the black rectangle, with an outline of a contrasting colour). Now create some labels, someof which are true, and others false. My example deals with healthy and lesshealthy food. As things stand, all the labels will slide on top of the rectangle. Tomake the false labels “disappear” double left click on them to get the “edit” box,then click on the symbol to “send to back”. You will need to do this to each falselabel separately. You can now ask students to move the correct labels into the box.They will be amazed to see false labels apparently disappear!9 livesType two set of 5 sentences or words onto a flipchart. Now blank over parts of thesentences or words using the pen tool. My example deals with the future tense.Divide the class into two teams and give each team a short time to study thesentences or words. Then ask one team to fill in the gaps. They have “nine lives”,or nine changes to alter what they have written if you indicate it is not correct.Cross lives off at the top of the board (or delete pictures of cats if you think theywill get the reference!) Then repeat with the other team. The most accurate