Clipboards and control — the role of stationery in authority

If you clicked on this to rile yourself up some more about clipboards, then go and make yourself a cup of tea instead, because IT’S JUST STATIONERY. I don’t recall any vitriol towards the teacher planner company or The Positive Teacher Co. when they foist the Gregorian calendar on us.

So anyway, here’s how I use a clipboard in my classroom:

• I lean bits of paper on it.

Well, actually, my trainee (who started using a clipboard first because she’s ace and she thought it was a good idea to help her keep track of the class) found one that does more than that. It has a clear pocket where you could put seating plans and a big space for spare stationery for students (I think it’s called a nurse’s clipboard).

My clipboard (with ingeniously attached pen), and many secret pockets.

I’m really forgetful and get super excited about science with my classes and therefore get sidetracked sometimes. So I use the clipboard to help me to:

• Not forget simple admin things
• Remind me what individual students need support with

(I’m also really nervous a lot of the time and do a lot of handwringing, and when I’m at my most nervous, I’ll cross one arm over my body and grab hold of my opposite shoulder. Holding a clipboard helps me stop doing that so much.)

More importantly than the stationery itself (and I know that it’s sacrilege to suggest that something might be more important than stationery), here’s what I put ON the clipboard.

Below is what one of my clipboard sheets looks like:

My clipboard sheet

Each box is a student seat and in it, I scribble a few things throughout the lesson:

One of the boxes from the top of the clipboard sheet

The grey boxes are for any merits/demerits that students accrue during a lesson as a tally. The codes from the key allow me to track admin and track which students need help with what things.

During the lesson, if I check understanding with MWB (or Cold Call or whatever Means of Participation I might use) and notice that lots of students get something wrong, then I’ll reteach. But if just a few students get it wrong, I don’t want to just ignore this. Here’s what I do:

• When I ask the question, I make a note next to one of the letters in the key what the Q is about (typically in their thinking time).
• If a few students get this question wrong, I write the letter from the key in their box.
• Later in the lesson, during independent practice, or when doing some more questioning, I can walk around with the clipboard and know which questions to return to with individual students so that I can either help them by addressing any misconceptions or check that they get it right the second time around.

Below is an example from Y11 today

FAQs

What do I do with the sheets afterwards?

Any notes that I want to carry forward to future lessons that I’m likely to forget, I keep a note of in a running Word document for each class. It helps me plan retrieval Qs and reminds me of things to recap in later topics.

Why don’t I use a class-specific seating plan?

I don’t use one with student names on so that I don’t have to reprint every time I do a seating plan change.

Do I make other people do it?

No. But I model how I find it useful, and some of the other members of the department have decided to do it too.

What else do you put in there?

Sometimes snacks and coffee sachets.

Where can I learn more about clipboards?

Thanks to Deep Ghatura for reminding me of C. G. P. Grey and time management for teachers. Video on other ways to use clipboards here.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for improvements – @tchillimamp on X and drchillimamp on Threads