The Gospel According to the Whiteboard: My Damascian Conversion to MWBs

It happened quietly, like most pedagogical conversions do. Not with a blazing light or a voice from above, but with a whiteboard the size of a paperback and a marker that squeaked with potential.

For years, I believed I was checking for understanding. I’d ask, “Any questions?”—followed by a reassuring silence that I mistook for comprehension. I’d pace a classroom of nodding heads, oblivious to the quiet confusion nestled behind polite expressions.

In hindsight, it was more liturgy than learning: a performance of checking, not the real thing. I have always been good at questioning and bouncing the theme around the room but on reflection, I always felt that was far too slow.

And then came Mini Whiteboards. For years, I had a set in my room that I used for high-days and holidays but it was a right faff to get them out and invariably the pens were without lids and there was never quite enough for a class (even though I had ordered the correct number). So, I had filed them away in the drawer of gimmicks—alongside lollipop sticks, thinking hats and traffic light cups.

But, I then moved to a school where they were a mandated piece of kit for every student, where it was perfectly normal to expect the students to get out their whiteboard at the beginning of class. This was a game-changer and took away all the faff and kerfuffle. Suddenly, this was no longer about novelty. It was about necessity. In an instant, I can check all 25 students understanding and work out where the misunderstandings are. Why ask one student a question when you can ask them all?

MWBs: Not Just a Surface—A Revelation

Peps Mccrea (2023) puts it plainly: “Checking for understanding is only useful if it’s valid and efficient.”  My previous methods were neither, whilst I would pride myself on my questioning, it was all too slow. Cue MWBs: small, portable, brutally honest. They give every student a voice—even those who would never raise a hand—and they make that voice visible, synchronised, and scannable. Any misunderstandings can be put right. All of a sudden, thinking is visible and something you can see. And there it is. In a single scan across the room, I can spot errors, hesitations, misconceptions—and not just from the ‘usual suspects’. This is whole-class data and in real time. It’s assessment without ceremony. It slowly becomes the norm, although I accept changing teacher habits, (especially old teacher habits) is evolutionary rather than revolutionary. And my own practice is still a work-in-progress.

Formative Assessment Reborn

Adopting MWBs has forced me to plan better and smarter. They don’t forgive fuzzy questions or woolly objectives. Every question must earn its place. This adaptive and responsive approach—Plan, Pre-Lesson Check, Teach with Checks, Post-Teach Check, Plenary Check — has brought a new discipline to my teaching I didn’t know I needed. I have found myself scripting hinge questions, anticipating wrong answers, even celebrating them as signposts for reteaching and a big plenary question.

When you see students flip their boards, hearts pounding with the thrill (and risk) of being seen, their furtive glances that wonder if they have got it right. And I realised something else: MWBs don’t just check understanding, they have a role in cultivating it. They invite thinking, reward precision, and gently expose the beautiful mess of learning.

Emotional Check-in.

Not only do MWBs increase the participation ratio, I have also found them an invaluable took for checking in with the emotions and feelings. I announce the question – on a scale of 1 – 10 – how confident do you feel with this topic and I have an instant snapshot of emotions in the room that I can then check up with further content questions, reteach and ask again. On a scale of 1 – 10 how productive have your independent revision sessions been tells me much about how things feel for my class.

Safe Space to Practice.

In the messiness of learning, it is really helpful to have the mini-whiteboard to use for rough drafts, a safe space to make mistakes. They also embolden group or pair work as the place to capture any group discussion.

Why I Can’t Go Back

Doug Lemov Teach Like A Champion 2.0 reminds us: “When you check for understanding, you’re holding feedback loops in your hands.” MWBs didn’t just give me the loop—they amplified it. With cold calling, you get snippets. But with MWBs, you get a symphony. The false notes are louder, yes, but so are the harmonies. The room feels more alive, more democratic, more honest. When you ask students to respond you are not just checking for understanding, you are gathering data to decide what to reteach or reinforce. Checking for understanding is the core concept in Rosenshine’s Principles and the single most important tool in the teacher’s toolkit.

This isn’t to say MWBs are perfect. They can be clunky, messy, even irritating. But they demand rigour. And in that demand lies their power. You need to establish a clear routine of their use to normalise their use in your classroom. You need to employ multiple MWB strategies (recall, MCQs, short sentences, plans) to suit different content and keep participation fresh. Students will also need precise live feedback during their use. You should try to move away from impulsive guessing to more deeper reflection and effortful retrieval.

So What Changed?

I have always prided myself on my questioning and responsive teaching but this renewed use of MWBs have really helped me improve my practice. I have stopped performing understanding and started pursuing it. I traded assumptions and guess work for evidence. I have became less interested in what I thought I taught and more interested in what they actually learned. There are always the big questions in teaching and learning.

And it all started with a whiteboard the size of a notebook and the humility to admit I needed to see more than nods. My MWB practice is not perfect, but I know the power of participation and seeing learning happen. Perhaps old dogs can still learn new tricks.