Activity

Methods of Use

Use of the blackboard required a certain body posture, which also communicated the authority of the user. The conventional view is of a teacher standing adjacent to the board, elevated above an audience, who remain seated and attentive. The audience looks up at the board, and watches the movements of the instructor. The instructor, with an awareness of the audience, must be conscious of their communication methods.

Commentators during the early 20th century remarked upon the necessity of instructors to practice blackboard use in a clear and legible manner. Wilbur Crafts, author of a 1901 publication entitled Plain Uses of the Blackboard and Slate and other Visible and Verbal Illustrations in the Sunday School and Home, proclaimed legibility as one of the paramount considerations in blackboard usage.

In higher education, the blackboard becomes a tool for adding visual structure to abstract ideas. For a professor at St.Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, the blackboard is useful in adding visual structure to the process of thinking. The user can present an idea on the board, erase portions and alter others. It renders concrete complex notions. Nevertheless, the role of teacher and student are strongly defined in each case.

The instructor can use a variety of methods to connect with an audience, and thus communicate an idea and reinforce a set of relations. The chalk could be used, for example, to make sharp markings or gestures. One of the most effective methods of engagement, however, was to include the viewer in the mark making process. Students who were called to the board could feel pride, or at times, humiliation from the experience. A professor in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Toronto remembered the embarrassment felt when asked to complete a math problem at the blackboard. At the same time, she acknowledged the honour in being privileged to write on the blackboard.

Please continue to Rudolf Steiner & Joseph Beuys