[Tannoy]

I must say that this is a little embarrassing but I have problems with my handwriting on the white board.

On paper my handwriting isn't too bad (it's not chicken scratching, but it's certainly not pretty)

Does anybody have any advice for improving my board writing?

I'm in my 2nd year of teaching and I looked at some pictures of my board work from about a year ago. There really hasn't been much improvement in terms of writing neatness. Words slant in up and down, it's quite wobbly and when it comes to writing sentences I feel awful.

The general layout and the way I present the material is much better, it's not so messy and all over the place.

I particular have problems with forming capital letters neatly. It might sound silly, but for me it is something quite important.

Has anybody experienced a similar problem?

Regards

[susan53]

I have the same problem - I really have to concentrate or my writing gets unintelligible. A couple of tips :

1. Practise. Go into the classroom between lessons and just practise writing on the board.
2. Write larger than you otherwise might.
3. Plan before the lesson what you want to write on the board - that way you're not "thinking on your feet" and can concentrate on the writing itself.
4. Write fairly slowly until you get better at it - avoid the temptation to scribble things down quickly.
5. When Ss are occupied with an activity - a written ex or PW, take a moment to review your board. If anything is illegible, slanting etc rub it off and write it up again.
6. To help stay straight, put parallel dots at regular intervals down both far sides of the board. Start writing at the left hand dot and as you write keep the words heading for the right hand dot.

All this might seem a drag at first and risk slowing lessons down, but it's a means to an end. If you do it systematically it will become more and more automatic and you'll find you've developed and attractive, intelligible board style.

Good luck!

[sobek]

Also experienced it. When i first started teaching, I found it very hard to write on a whiteboard as i had never wrote on one before.
I often worried that the children couldn't read my writing and would often try as often as possible to NOT write on the board.

Now, however, I do kindergarten work and the need for writing isn't needed...which is great.

What kind of school do you work in? Would it be possible even to make the students write on the board for you? Or to use a computer and get it projected onto a screen?