Getting the Whole Class Playing on One Interactive Whiteboard

A game on the interactive whiteboard draws every eye in the room, but it doesn’t necessarily get the whole class working. Two pupils touch the screen and the others watch. A few organizational choices are enough to give everyone something to do at every moment.

Form the teams before the lesson

Prepare the teams in advance and balance them, with confident and less confident pupils in each group. Forming groups in front of the class takes time and singles out whoever is picked last.

Two to four teams are enough. With more, each pupil waits too long for a turn. Give each team a fixed place in the room and keep the same groups for a few lessons: pupils get used to them and the start becomes quick.

Organize turns at the board

The main risk is simple: the strongest pupils volunteer every time. So announce the order before you start, for example by following the rows or a posted list.

• Change pupils at every question, or every thirty seconds in a race.
• Don’t let anyone call out the answer to the pupil at the board, but let the team help after a mistake.
• If your board only recognizes one touch at a time, have the teams play in turn.

Keep the seated pupils working

This is the decisive point. Every seated pupil works out the answer on a mini whiteboard at the same time as the pupil at the board. Ask for the boards to be held up from time to time: you get an instant picture of the class, and nobody is just a spectator.

In an observation game, give the waiting teams a job: spot the traps, count the right answers, or explain a mistake at the end of the round.

Shape HuntShapes scroll along three lanes. Tap the right ones before they get away.See the game

Set three rules before you start

1. We touch the screen only when it is our turn.
2. We can discuss a wrong answer, but we never make fun of a person.
3. At the teacher’s signal, we stop and listen.

Repeat them before the first game, then refer back to them as soon as things get noisy.

Start easier than you expect

The first game is mostly for understanding how it works. Choose a simple level and a short length. Once the rules are clear, you can raise the difficulty.

Keep five minutes for the review

The most useful moment comes after the game. Go back over two or three mistakes: what fooled the team? How can we check next time? Then have pupils write an example in their notebooks, so the game leaves a trace.

Which Operation?Read the problem, choose the operation, then calculate. One-step and two-step problems.See the game