How #VNPS has transformed teaching!

I am back!! After a long hiatus which included having our first child and changing jobs! I am hoping to blog more regularly on some of some amazing movements going on in MATH! 

#VNPS

I recall reading about #VNPS (vertical non-permanent surface) last spring and thought this is such a quick way to get students out of their seats and truly collaborating! The transformation that this is making in classrooms is more than incredible and more than I could ever imagined! 

I know what you are thinking, I already use whiteboards in my class [at their seats] 
                         and I am going to respond....."this is different."

So you are thinking, so I take my whiteboards and put them on the walls?? 
                         "Yes... and...."

Wipebooks up in a classroom that dedicated group area collaborative spaces

Here's how it all started... at the end of the year I received a grant at Inspire Loudoun (a teacher-run professional learning day where Loudoun County Public Schools teachers come together to share best practices in teaching with technology and more). As I no longer had my own classroom, I needed to use the money to support multiple middle schools...
I started doing some research on what might have the biggest impact on several math classrooms; this lead me back to my research of #VNPS! 

I would love to whiteboard walls from floor to ceiling or wink walls or adhere huge whiteboards across walls in all classrooms-- and my grant wouldn't have even touched more than one classroom. I started back on Twitter and ran across the company Wipebook. With my grant and their educational discount based on quantities, I was able to purchase 18 sets of 10 whiteboard posters. Each individual poster can easily be adhered to the wall and are about 2ft x 3ft. Additionally, there are two sides on each poster a side that is blank and another side that has light graph lines. I know many teachers permanently adhere (hot glue/3M/etc.) the graph side up as it is so light that teachers feel like it is good for math use all the time! I have no affiliation with Wipebook and I just find their products affordable and hold up pretty well. If I had my choice with no cost associated I would absolutely want to have Winked walls floor to ceiling in every math classroom! 

Students work together and switch roles every minute to resurface prior knowledge on coordinate planes

How have I seen it utilized? 

• Resurfacing prior knowledge in groups 

• Work with your group to write everything you know about coordinate planes

• One marker 

• Students switch every thirty seconds 

• or use the Muscle/Brain technique 

• One student is the muscle (writer) other 2-3 students are the brain (communicates thinking). The brain writes other's ideas, if they have an idea they would like to contribute they must pass the marker to another student.

• Practicing a skill after a mini-lesson 

• Engaging in Rich Math Tasks such as www.openmiddle.com (that's for another day) and countless others 

• As a central work place for groups during 3-Act Math Tasks or group tasks 

• As a place for students to reflect on at the end of the day and write thoughts and group collaborative goals in the future?

• As a huge support to create a thinking classroom environment on a daily basis (if you haven't heard of Peter Liljedahl please look him up, and consider creating a thinking classroom in your math class!) 

• What other ways have you seen this utilized? 

What makes #VNPS so great? 

• Gets students standing and out of their desks 

• Centers group attention on one vertical space (not individual boards, with individuals doing the work), this easily promotes collaboration. 

• Decreases risk (with dry erase marker, standing and groups)

• Can be paired with #VRG (visibly random grouping). We will dive into that another day! 

• Easy to use in your class

• Students can have roles

• Teacher can formatively assess and support where needed 

• Can be used for Gallery Walks 

• Saves time as students help support other students

• Great for pulling small groups  (and still be able to monitor the rest of the class) 

• Can be easily integrated into your day to day math classes, not a big overhaul! 

Oh there are so many ways why I am a believer, I could go on and on! 
What are some of your reasons why? 
Want to increase engagement instantly? Try it out! If you do, let me know how it goes! 

Students collaborate at a large whiteboard on an Open Middle problem