Silent Board Meeting

There are moments where you need students to see one another's ideas, but perhaps a whole-class share-out or a full Gallery Walk is not quite the right solution. In this case, consider a "Silent Board Meeting" as an alternative.

In this simple activity, groups (or individuals) are instructed ahead of time that they will be sharing their written ideas silently with the class. The word "silent" here is intentional and should be explained. We are really just taking a moment to look at one another's ideas. We are not asking questions or evaluating in this moment.

Be sure to have students write neatly and large enough so that other students will be able to decipher what has been recorded. Then have each student or group stand in a circle with their board facing center so that it is visible to all others in the classroom. If you have a large classroom, you might consider smaller circles (or triangles if having three groups face one another at a time) and a rotation schedule, especially if you are concerned that boards will not be visible across the classroom.

There are places in the curriculum where a whole-class Silent Board Meeting is used to allow groups to see each other's ideas briefly before revising their own, but you can imagine modifying the activity so that individuals have an opportunity to share in small groups without the need to verbalize. Consider using this as a management tool on a loud day or as a way to support English language learners or other populations who may struggle with the heavy verbal demand of the sense-making classroom.