231: Highly Recommended: Try using your Whiteboard like This

This week I want to give you a few quick ideas for using your whiteboard to help share great books with your students.

First things first, your whiteboard tray. I am seeing a lot of folks making a super quick display that’s really impactful by spreading books along their tray, then writing a one-sentence teaser above the book. This display is so easy to change up, and you can even get students involved in making new versions.

Next up, you can use your whiteboard to showcase what you’re reading. Create a little corner that says “Ms. Potash is reading…” and then print cover screenshots of what you’re reading. Again, so easy to change up, but it opens up conversations if kids have read or want to read what you’re reading.

I recently saw the Book Wrangler on Instagram talking about magnetic book shelves that he’s using in his library under the circulation desk. These would be a great add on a whiteboard too. Small magnetic shelves would let you feature a few books front and center of your classroom, and you could write headers or descriptions next to the shelves.

Finally, here’s an idea that could combine them all. You know I’ve been creating free display materials for various theme months throughout the year, most recently Hispanic Heritage Month. Caitlin Lore, who was on the podcast last year, has generously shared pictures with me of how she uses these displays as a starting point to devote her entire whiteboard to stunning displays for these various theme months. You could do the same, and incorporate all of these other ideas. Feature books from the theme along your whiteboard, add some to magnetic shelves, read one yourself and feature it in your corner, and then add display materials and posters wherever there’s still room. 

So if you’ve got room on a whiteboard this year, I highly recommend trying one or all of these quick flips to turn it into a P.R. station for books and authors. It won’t take long, but it may just inspire a lot of new reading. 

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