IF YOU WANT TO:
Paying attention to your board work.
One of the best summaries of "blackboard etiquette" we have found was written by Uri Treisman for the Graduate Assembly's Handbook for Teaching Assistants (1983). The following is a summary of Treisman's tips, augmented by those reported by faculty members.
First, be sure to determine the visibility of the board from several vantage points in the room. Second, if you are teaching in a room with three movable boards, use the middle board first. When you are finished push that board up and use the front board next. In this way, the information you have presented can be viewed for a longer period of time. Third, if you have a soft voice or are teaching in a large room, don't lecture while writing with your back to the class unless you are wearing a microphone. Also turn to face the class when making important points so that you can pick up visual cues as to students' comprehension.
Fourth, label the basic components of what you put on the board, using words like "Theorem," "Proof," "Answer." This practice will emphasize the structural aspects of problem solving and reinforce student learning. Fifth, don't simplify expressions by using an eraser while students are trying to take notes. Put a single line through the expression you wish to simplify and write the new expression above it. If you omit a computation, indicate that you have done so by writing "computation omitted." Sixth, prepare handouts of any detailed formulae, derivations, or illustrations to be presented in class.
Limitations on Use of Suggestion
Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California