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31 January 2005: Rocks and Chalkboards (3 of 6)
At , you’ll find a brief history of the chalkboard. It seems that up until 1801 in the United States, it was virtually unheard of to teach the entire class from one large slate on the wall. Instead, teachers circulated, giving students work to do on their individual slates.
By the 1850’s, a “leap forward” had occurred in public education, and “teachers no longer had to spend so much time writing individual problems and lessons on a single student’s slate, but could speak to an entire class where everyone had the benefit of seeing the board.”
Technology? Certainly. Better teaching? Doubtful. By allowing for whole class instruction, and creating classrooms geared toward that method, chalkboards may well have been a significant step in the un-training of teachers. Now, teachers could teach many students as if they were one. This undoubtedly led to less teacher circulation around the room, and arguably to less differentiation for student needs.
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