It is very important to have your board well organised and clear. This is part of successful classroom management. Imagine if your board was not organised and Ss could not figure out what is written there. May God bless you.

Haider M (EL supervisor)

Great advice about planning board work. It makes a difference! That way, you never "run out" of space, because you know exactly what's going on the board at any given point of the lesson. This is especially useful if it's a grammar-focused lesson. I find that planning in detail helps tremendously.

While the students are copying the information into their notebooks, I walk to the back of the room to check if my handwriting is clear and whether everything on the board is accurate.

Hi,

To be honest, ever since I was a university student I hated writing on the board (blackboard, greenboard, or whatever colour it comes in!), and for the greatest part because of the existence of chalk! I couldn't seem to be able to properly wash off the somehow sticky chalk residue on my hands with water and soap! So according to me, I would ban all such boards which use chalk!

Regarding your personal improvement and proper utilizing of the board in class, I would give Heath's advice about board division a thumb up because I too can see myself doing it! What I do is whenever starting off with writing on the board I go to the back of the classroom and see for myself whether I am a crooked writer or not. Why not even try to improve your handwriting as a homework assignment? Be strict and do the best because practice makes perfect! If you have the opportunity and will to do so, why not stay a little longer after English classes and make use of the board on your own. You won't have any audience at that time so you can be alone with your thoughts. While doing this, don't forget to write down on paper in two separate columns what you have assessed your strong points and weak points are, and while trying to keep up the strong points, work a bit more to perfect your weak points.

That's my advice

Waiting for more!

     Aneta

To be honest, I come to think about this matter for the first time. Very few teachers (I can talk only about those whose work I observe day after day) use the board accurately. The idea of deviding into 4 parts seems to be nice and useful, need to try it!))

Using different colors is really useful. Both kids and adults like it

As for me I usually use the board for games, simple grammar charts, warm-ups, and picture story-telling. I prefer paper clip charts to ordinary chalk boards. You can always go back to previous material.

It was a great source of pride to earn the nickname "the whiteboard police" during my CELTA!  Jokes aside, boardwork matters because students tend to copy verbatim from the board.  I have several golden rules for gold standard boardwork. 

First of all, have a slice all the way down for new lexis/vocab on the side which you write (r-h for right hand writers etc).  When you write a new word in the column have an abbreviation in brackets after it which shows what it is - (n) for noun, (v) for verb, (adj) for adjective and so forth.  Make sure you don't use capitals unless it is a place or name: again, students will copy verbatim so give them the correct material to copy!  New vocab emerges every lesson and you cannot anticipate it all so you will always need this section for every lesson.  I use about a fifth of my board space for it.   

Second, have a whiteboard plan.  Once you have done your lesson plan and your timings and you know what you're doing, work out how to present it.  Get a piece of A4 paper and a pencil and work backwards.  How should your board look at the end of the lesson?  What information should it contain?  If you are using it a lot, make a plan for each stage of the lesson before you plan to wipe it clean.  If you have this with you (and I recommend having it in front of you on your desk or blu-tak it next to your board in class), you will not forget the crucial pieces of language and explanations for your lesson. 

Third: print!  Write in clear, printed English.  If your writing resembles hieroglyphs, then why not print off the relevant things on a computer beforehand?  If you know your board (and you should - it is one of your most vital tools) you will learn to print things in the most efficient font size.  Make sure your writing is consistent in size and spacing.   

Fourth: use colours.  Use different colours on different parts of the board, especially for grammar explanations.  Try and avoid yellow because no one will see it, but other than that you should be fine.

Fifth: if you can, try and leave an area near the bottom of the board for unexpected extras or an area for students to write their answers which is at an appropriate height for them. 

Sixth: if you are going to use visual aids/flashcards to help with new vocab, try and match the space on the board.  By that I mean the space for the word (and maybe phonemic script) should match the size of the visual cue and that there should be enough space on the board for all the words and cues to fit on the board.  

Seventh: practise!  Practice makes perfect.  The more you practise writing on your board, the better you will become at using it.  If you struggle with it, try taking photos of your board afterwards and then go home and reorganise it on a sheet of A4 so you will see how to alter it to make it better.  

I've seen some boardwork that was so terrible it made me want to weep tears of blood in frustration!  Your board is not just for you - it is mostly for your students and their benefit.  It matters, it really does!  It may be a cliche to say it, but the board really is the external manifestation of your own internal thought process and so it tells you a lot about your teaching.  I know this list may look as if I have OCD (which, actually, I do!) but I promise you it will help your lessons and your teaching enormously.  Clarity of boardwork = clarity of lesson!