With the changes in the way we obtain knowledge, share information, fact check, with the constant growth of accessibility of information, education has greatly evolved over the years. And thanks to all of this, we now not only know how important interactive learning really is, but we also have great means to implement it in our classrooms.
Teachers’ easels are a simple but ingenious multipurpose teaching tool that can give you the opportunity to easily revolutionise your teaching style. Generally, these units are easily manoeuvrable and come in many different styles and designs. Some versatile options offering enough storage space so that you can keep any tool you might need during your class handy, such as books, writing or painting tools, paper etc.
Why Would You Need a Teaching Easel?
When it comes to teaching, there is always room for improvement. Soon enough, teachers will have to start getting ready for going back to school, and you might be wondering about the different things you can try and do in your classroom to make it more efficient and interesting.
Many teachers have decided to invest in versatile teaching easels for their classroom. The unfortunate truth is that the same thing that’s moving education forward, is what sometimes also makes it hard to engage students during class – technology with all its gadgets, and the huge number of distractions it offers.
Nevertheless, it’s exactly ingenious tools like teachers’ easels what can help us peak students’ interest, make them excited about learning, and provoke them to get engaged. You can use classroom easels in many different ways based on your teaching style, the subject, or your personal needs and taste.
What Are the Benefits of Teaching Easels?
Some easels come with a lot of features to help you store anything you might need, and offer a wide range of opportunities for several types of lessons. Having this type of classroom easel can especially be helpful if you teach younger children. There are also simpler easels that feature only a whiteboard. Apart from having different features, easels also vary in size and materials.
Learning and Teaching Aid
It’s been proven over and over again that whiteboards help students learn better. Technology is now offering many different types of visual learning opportunities, and many advanced types of whiteboards. However, good old regular whiteboards are great tools on themself to help students visualise the things they are learning about, helping them really understand, rather than simply memorise, while also making the learning process much easier for them.
Handwriting is, of course, an important cognitive and motor skill kids have to develop, but more than that, many claim that writing by hand is much more effective when it comes to learning than typing on a computer or simply reading, listening, watching a video… When you are handwriting something, it’s as if you perceive the information in more different ways – with your eyes, your mind, and your hand. This is one of the reasons why simple whiteboard, often featured on teachers’ easels, shouldn’t be dismissed.
When it comes to younger children, the reason easels can play such an important role in the classroom is that apart from giving them this opportunity to understand and learn visually, and through handwriting, they also make it easier for them to participate actively in the learning process, and keep them interested in the subject. Kids learn best through play, and easels can give the teacher an opportunity to make learning a fun game in which all participate equally.
Classroom Management Aid
For teachers, on the other hand, having all the tools within a hand’s reach, and giving them the possibility to position themselves anywhere, a well-organised and well-positioned classroom easel can be a great aid in classroom management, providing the teacher with a unique way of staying on top of the development of their students’ cognitive and motor skills, as well as their communication skills.
In essence, the ability to move the easel around the classroom gives the teacher more control over everything that’s happening. Meaning it allows you to communicate better with your students and be more attentive to their reactions, their involvement, their focus, their attentiveness, and truly notice how much has each student really understood the subject.
Furthermore, as a teacher, with an all-purpose easel you will have a better way of teaching the kids to stay present and on task, wait for their turn, listen to others and respect their opinion, work out conflicts, work in groups, understand the value of helping others etc., while also having fun and learning.
Organisation
With teaching easels coming with some type of storage, whether it’s shelves, drawers or baskets, primary school teachers can organise their classroom. Organisation is not only important for the efficiency of the class but especially for the children since it can influence their perception of school, learning, their teacher etc. If you decide to start using a classroom easel on wheels, with its storage capacities, you’ll have a lot of opportunities to organise everything in a way that will be visually pleasing and easy to understand, so that the kids can benefit as much as possible from it.
Can Teaching Easels Be Used for Learning at Home?
With a lot of children Australia wide and around the globe learning from home during the pandemic, a teacher easel on wheels can be a very good tool for learning at home, as well. They can potentially help both kids and parents in these hard times. Kids might find learning more interesting and engaging, while parents learning with their kids, may find explaining things much easier with more tools at hand.
