HOW DRY ERASE WALLS FOSTER CREATIVITY

High-quality dry erase painted walls foster creative thinking and free expression among students in many ways. Creativity is an essential quality for children to gain at an early age, as it aids in developing their cognitive and emotional intelligence, helps them innovate and develop better problem-solving skills, and even allows them to feel more confident in expressing their ideas, opinions, and decisions throughout life. The following are some fun classroom exercises that can inspire your students to tap into their creative potential and learn new subject matter in the process.

The “Wild Wednesday” Assignment Expands Children’s Empathy and Worldview

Every “Wild Wednesday” during the school year, write a thought-provoking question for your students on the classroom’s dry erase wall. The question needs to be one that prompts the students to use their imaginations and visualizing skills while searching for an answer, and they’ll need to be prepared to share it with others as well. For instance, you can ask, “If you could be an animal, what animal would you choose to be and why? What would you say to humans if you could talk?” Another question might be, “If you could have a superpower, what power would you choose? How would you use it to help the earth become a better place to live?”

Such questions will prompt the children to imagine different qualities, behaviors, and lifestyles that go beyond their own day-to-day lives, thus broadening their thinking, strengthening their ability to show empathy for animals and other humans, and enhancing their creativity.

The Synonym Game Builds Vocabulary and Improves Writing Skills

Write a word in the center of the classroom dry erase wall, then ask your pupils to come up with as many alternative words with the same meaning that they can think of while being as creative as possible and trying to push themselves to think beyond the most obvious choices. Next, pair up the children, ask them to write the words they came up with on the dry erase wall, and have them work together to write sentences that contain the words. One student in each pair can write half of a sentence, and the other one can write the other half as they discuss word choice and grammar.

This exercise will help to expand the children’s vocabulary and sentence-writing skills by prompting them to construct grammatically correct sentences as a team. It will also build their confidence about making suggestions and give you a chance to discuss vocabulary words that the class has been studying.

The Shape Game Fosters Visualization and Creative Thinking Abilities

The shape game is a fun and exciting recreational activity that children really enjoy as a pastime, but it can also serve as a valuable teaching and learning tool in the elementary or middle school classroom. Such imaginative drawing games help children learn how to experiment and play, to express their ideas visually, and to develop their creative thinking skills by visualizing an image in their minds and realizing it in physical form on the classroom dry erase painted wall.

Starting by Drawing Shapes

For this activity, divide the students into groups of two, then ask them to take turns drawing a line or shape on the wall, with each line or shape adding to the previous ones in order to construct a new image. For instance, a circle drawn by one student can become an orange, a peach, or an apple if another student draws a short curved line that looks like a stem on top of the circle. Encourage the class to do this exercise in silence, so they don’t offer suggestions to one another about what to draw next. Instead, ask them to be creative and use their imaginations to decide on what they want to draw each time it’s their turn.

Adding Speech Bubbles and Backgrounds

After a few minutes of drawing, ask the children to draw speech bubbles near their images and have them write in the bubbles what their image is saying or what sounds it’s making. You could also ask the students to draw an environment around their images and write a description of the image or a poem or story about it. As they did with the drawing part of the exercise, the students should write their description, poem, or story while taking turns, adding one sentence after another until they’re finished writing. This exercise helps promote the skill of creative visualization through its drawing component and verbal creativity through its writing component.

Drawing a Shape and Having Students Write About it

A variation on this game would be for you to draw a random shape in the center of the dry erase wall then ask your students to think about what the shape looks like. In this case, they could come up with any number of possibilities, but they will need to choose one idea and write about the characteristics of the shape based on that idea in as much detail as possible. Like the original shape game, this exercise enhances both visual and verbal creativity by having both a drawing and a writing component.

A Short Story Exercise that Fosters Creative Writing Skills

Helping students become good writers can’t be achieved just by having them read other people’s writings then teaching them the essential elements of the writing process. They need to be able to put these elements into practice in order to enhance their compositional skills and style and discover their weaknesses and areas where they might need improvement. With this idea in mind, the following exercise can help young writers cultivate their imaginations and learn about how skilled creative writers work.

Use the Basic Story Elements to Prompt Students for Ideas

Divide the classroom’s dry erase wall into five equal-sized sections using a ruler or yardstick and a dry erase marker with dark-colored ink. The sections should each contain a basic story element that the children can use for writing their own short stories, thus flexing their creative muscles and letting their imaginations run wild. Within the sections, write the following headers representing the basic short story elements: characters, setting, time, problem, and events. Then ask the students to come up with original ideas about the elements as you write them down under the category headers.

Have Students Write Stories Based on the Ideas They’ve Chosen

Allow the students enough time to deliberate until they run out of ideas. When the class has generated all the ideas they can think of, ask them to choose from among the items on the wall, then have them write short stories based on the items they’ve selected. Prompts for the stories should include the following:

1. A dream about which they remember a significant number of vivid images and details

2. A clear memory of an event that they experienced in the recent or distant past

3. A favorite song or music video of which they remember the lyrics and/or images.

Inform the students that when they write their stories, they can change the details of the dream, memory, favorite song, or music video to correspond with the story elements they chose from the items presented in class. In this way, their creative thinking skills will be stimulated through the process of coming up with variations on the original characters, setting, time, problem, and events of their chosen dream, past life event, song, or music video.

Allow Students to Finish Stories for Homework

If the students don’t have enough time to finish their stories during the regular class period, they can do so as a homework assignment. This will allow the children to edit their short stories and refine the grammar, sentence structure, style, and content until they’re satisfied with the quality of their finished products.

Creative writing exercises such as this one are great for developing and loosening up students’ “writing muscles,” for enhancing specific writing skills, and for just having fun as they learn to become competent and confident creative writers.

Dry Erase Wall Paint

BECOME MORE PRODUCTIVE WORKING FROM HOME WITH A DRY ERASE WALL

Before many office workers made the transition to a life of telecommuting, the idea of doing their job from the comforts of home, avoiding crowded freeways, subways, or trains, and wearing sweatpants all day sounded like a pipe dream. But those who have been working remotely for a while know that the lifestyle isn’t always as stress-free and comfortable as it may first appear. Feelings of isolation, distractions from household members, and so-called “Zoom fatigue” are real challenges that need to be addressed daily in order to function efficiently in the work-from-home environment. Zoom fatigue can be defined as the feelings of tiredness, anxiety, or burnout people suffer when overusing virtual communication media such as Zoom and Skype. Once again, dry erase walls to the rescue…

Following the simple steps below can help you to overcome the problem of Zoom fatigue, along with the daily household distractions and sense of isolation or loneliness you may be experiencing while doing remote work, so that you can feel more relaxed and centered and function more effectively in the home office setting.

Set the stage each day by arranging a set of items that tell you “It’s time to work”

If you’re using just one space for doing remote work in your house or apartment, or if you need to use more than one area, set up the same props, such as a mouse pad, an uplifting photo, or an inspiring quote in each location every day. Having the identical type of set-up at each workstation lets your brain know that it’s time to work when you get there, and the visual prompt of repeatedly going back to the same arranged workspace or spaces will give you a feeling of empowerment and confidence to begin tackling your job duties for an extended time. In this way, you’ll make your efficiency portable by bringing the skills of clear, simple organization and logical workflow that you acquired in the workplace into your home office environment.

Use a dry erase painted surface as a “visual anchor”

You can also make use of a “visual anchor” located in an area near your computer or laptop, such as a dry erase painted wall, desktop, tabletop, or cabinet. On it, you may list three or more of the most crucial tasks you want to concentrate on during each working day. Using a dry erase painted surface, which is low-tech, uncomplicated, and easy to interact with, will help to guide you forward more smoothly than interacting with complex tech-based activity lists or schedules on a desk computer or laptop. Having your dry erase surface always close at hand is like having the most kindly boss you’ve ever worked with, as it will gently and continually direct you to use your time for tasks that are most important to your job on any given day.

Write and draw on your dry erase surface as much as possible

Writing and drawing by hand on a dry erase painted surface is also helpful in enhancing your mental acuity and clarity. In terms of brain stimulation and overall benefits to the mind, writing by hand is the ideal way to form words and numbers. No other language-communication technique is as potent a mental stimulant as handwriting. When you type notes on a laptop, desktop, or tablet during virtual meetings or schedule work activities or video conferences on an electronic calendar, the process may seem easier than writing the same items out by hand, but the learning and cognitive effects are much less beneficial. This is just one of the many advantages of using dry erase painted surfaces as your essential business and personal communication tools in the home office setting.

Take breaks during the workday based on your inner cues

The importance of taking time outs throughout the workday is widely accepted by psychologists, time-management experts, and health care professionals, but knowing when and how long to pause for a while may be hard to pinpoint. For example, some business training and consulting companies suggest following the body’s circadian rhythm and taking a rest every 90 minutes, while others recommend breaking about every 20 minutes. However, such regularly timed breaks don’t always fit in with everyone’s work schedule, so it’s better to take a more intuitive approach and pay attention to your personal inner cues.

When you feel like you’re getting overwhelmed with phone calls, when you feel your body tingling from adrenaline, when you’re craving a snack, feel you need to check your email, or desire any other way to rest, take a strategically timed pause. Such occasions are other times when a dry erase painted wall can come in handy, as you can back off from your work duties and begin to sketch or doodle for a while on the wall at a leisurely pace, thus helping you relax and recharge.

Do “soft work” periodically to enhance your ability to do “hard work”

Research has shown that so-called “soft work” such as casual doodling and sketching during the workday can alleviate stress and improve cognitive acuity for more formal or “hard” work activities such as conducting virtual meetings, doing calculations, freelance writing, or creating design layouts. Soft work is not what you’re directly paid to do each day, and it’s not what you’re periodically evaluated on. By contrast, “hard work” includes activities such as reading reports, doing research, calling clients, transcribing phone calls, and working with Excel or PowerPoint. For some, it might consist of supervising employees or reading and writing business-related emails.

During the past year and a half, countless white-collar workers around the world have come to realize that they can do such hard work from the comforts of home just as effectively as in the traditional office setting, and perhaps even more so, because their coworkers aren’t distracting them and they’re free of office noise and the need to attend frequent in-person meetings. Supplement your hard work with occasional doodling or sketching on your dry erase wall and feel the difference in your productivity.

Create a clocking-out routine that you follow every day

Productivity can also be enhanced by compartmentalizing your job activities, an essential habit of work-from-home team members. Any time you can place items in boxes, either literally or figuratively, it helps you to maintain your focus. Checking email at a regular time each day is a form of compartmentalization. The Dry Erase Painted surface that serves as your visual anchor is another. You can make use of the concept of compartmentalization to call an end to your workday visually by opening a physical compartment, like a desk drawer or file cabinet, and putting all of your job-related articles inside. Tuck them into their compartment and clock out for the day. It’s not always easy to clock out in the virtual environment of our home office, where you can and at times do feel that you should be continually on hand to work, but try to do so anyway.

Another effective method for cutting off work activities for the evening is to announce it either vocally or in writing, which is like making a verbal pledge to yourself. When you’re ready for the workday to end, stand in front of your family members or a roommate and say, “I’m done working for the day.” You can also write the same message in large letters on your dry erase wall and look at the words for a while, so the idea sinks into your head. This is an effective approach if you live alone; otherwise, you can call or text a friend and give the same message, or just say out loud for only yourself to hear, “I’m finished for the day.”

Fiberglass pool calcium remover

Why is my fiberglass pool shell whitening? This is a common concern that fiberglass pool owners may have to understand at some point.

This dulling can start as a white film forming on the walls of the pool and can also make the water seem hazy. The white particulate can also build up in the filter which will require frequent cleaning. This can happen to any fiberglass pool because of age, excessive chemical treatments (especially overchlorination) or most frequently, a combination of these issues.

If you see a layer of white or greyish-white material on the sides of your pool around the tile line, that’s calcium. Calcium can build up and leach into the pool’s gelcoat. As fiberglass pools begin to age the gelcoat finish will slowly fade in color over time. Calcium scale deposits happen when your water an over abundance of calcium or from hard water. The white metal depostis are usually from calcium deposits that have accumulated over time.

Maintaining a great looking fiberglass swimming pool means keeping the water in balance by saturating it with the right chemicals and systems to help control the processes that make calcification possible. One such platform is the Vibranz fiberglass pool care system. 

How do you remove calcium deposits from a fiberglass pool

Whiteboard Wall Quotes for July 2021

July: A Month of Joy and Hope

The long, hot days of July tend to bring back nostalgic thoughts of years gone by when we had nothing to do but play outdoors with our friends. Now, however, July often just means more days spent with work and family duties. For adults, the joyful months of summer vacation from school are a thing of the past. But we can still reminisce about the good old days. The following quotes can help you consider the month of July from various perspectives, perhaps stir up some pleasant memories, and provide texts to post on your Whiteboard Wall for inspiration or writing topics for your home school children.

About the Love of July

1. “The Summer looks out from her brazen tower, through the flashing bars of July.”
– Francis Thompson (English poet and mystic)

2. “Hot July brings cooling showers, apricots, and gillyflowers.”
– Sara Coleridge (English author)

3. “July is hot afternoons and sultry nights and mornings when it’s a joy just to be alive. July is a picnic and a red canoe and a sunburned neck and a softball game and ice tinkling in a tall glass. July is a blind date with summer.”
– Hal Borland (US author, journalist, and naturalist)

4. “In the old parts of Nice [France], the family tables are out in the cobbled streets so that you can’t drive past. They insist you join them at midnight on a hot July evening. So that’s just what you do, abandon the car.”
– Mary Quant (British fashion designer)

5. “I drifted into a summer nap under the hot shade of July, serenaded by a cicada lullaby, to drowsy-warm dreams of distant thunder.”
– Terri Guillemets (US quotation anthologist)

About July in Relation to Life

6. “But here I am in July, and why am I thinking about Christmas pudding? Probably because we always pine for what we do not have. The winter seems cozy and romantic in the hell of summer, but hot beaches and sunlight are what we yearn for all winter.”
– Joanna Franklin Bell (US writer)

7. “I always think I will get better in July. Things will change, and sounds won’t ache. It’s July, and I have hope in who I am becoming.”
― Charlotte Eriksson (Swedish author and songwriter)

8. “After living and working in Milan and Paris, I arrived in New York City 20 years ago, and I saw both the joys and the hardships of daily life. On July 28, 2006, I was very proud to become a citizen of the United States — the greatest privilege on planet Earth.”
– Melania Trump (former First Lady of the United States)

9. “We spent June and July in the Rockies, growing stronger, feeling feral in the untamed range of mountains.”
― Aspen Matis (US author)

10. “My life, I realize suddenly, is July. Childhood is June, and old age is August, but here it is, July, and my life, this year, is July inside of July.”
– Rick Bass (US writer)

Humorous July Quotes

11. “Every July, I look forward to taping a Christmas show
– in July, in Nashville, in 98-degree weather. I love it.” – Larry the Cable Guy (US comedian)

12. “Being a traditionalist, I’m a rabid sucker for Christmas. In July, I’m already worried that there are only 146 shopping days left.”
– John Waters (US filmmaker)

Insights about July

13. “I have always had a certain aversion to heat. And for me, the name of the game on the stage is ‘beat the heat.’ It’s always July under the lights.” ― Bob Weir (US musician)

14. “Those who in July do wed, must labor for their daily bread. Married in July with flowers ablaze, bitter-sweet memories in after days.”
― New Zealand Proverb

15. “No one’s gonna give a damn in July if you lost a game in March.”
– Earl Weaver (US baseball manager)

16. “July, that lovely hell, all velvet dresses and drapes stuffed into a hot little hole.”
– Laura Kasischke (US writer)

17. “July is high burglary season because so many people leave town.”
― Jean Chatzky (US Journalist)

18. “If ant hills are high in July, the coming winter will be hard.”
― US folklore

19. “There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November.”
― Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (US civil rights leader)

20. “I only deepen the wound of the world when I neglect to give thanks for the heavy perfume of wild roses in early July and the song of crickets on summer humid nights and the rivers that run and the stars that rise and the rain that falls and all the good things that a good God gives.”
― Ann Voskamp (Canadian author)

About the Fourth of July

21. “You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4th, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.”
– Erma Bombeck (US humorist)

22. “There are lots of emotions that go with the fourth of July.”
– Dan Harmon (US writer, producer, actor, and comedian)

23. “As a British person living in the USA, I keep a low profile on Independence Day, July 4th.”
― Steven Magee (British expert on radiation and human health)

24. “I always have the most fun on the Fourth of July. You don’t have to exchange any gifts. You just go to the beach and watch fireworks. It’s always fun.”
– James Lafferty (US actor, director, and producer)

25. “It’s Fourth of July weekend, or, as I call it, Exploding Christmas.”
— Stephen Colbert (US comedian)

26. “When I was little I thought, isn’t it nice that everybody celebrates on my birthday? Because it’s July 4th.”
– Gloria Stuart (US actress, visual artist, and activist)

WHITEBOARD WALL QUOTES FOR APRIL 2021

APRIL: A MONTH OF RENEWAL AND REBIRTH

April is a time of transition, a period of renewal and rebirth in the world of nature, coming when winter has just ended and spring is just beginning. For many writers, the month is a symbol of youth, freshness, and promise. However, for others, April brings back old memories and triggers nostalgia about the past. April is also an action-packed month, starting with the prankster’s holiday, All Fools’ Day followed by the moveable feast of Easter, and the major annual event known as Earth Day, which is celebrated worldwide on April 22 to show support for environmental conservation. What’s more, April is the month when spring really starts to gain momentum in many places – and for most people, that’s reason enough to be happy.

One way to welcome the arrival of spring is to post uplifting quotes about April on your whiteboard-coated wall. Doing so can provide you with constant reminders of the season’s refreshing weather and the rebirth of plant and animal life that’s happening all around you. Such positive messages have been shown to produce a beneficial effect on people’s feelings and attitudes. As media psychology expert and communications consultant, Scott Sobel says, human beings are by nature hopeful, so they seek inspiration from role models and their observations on life: “Leaders and their words – inspirational quotes – affect us on a primal level.” And this is one reason that these expressions are passed down through the generations.

Words from acknowledged leaders in business, politics, the arts, and other fields may also hold more power because we assume that people in public roles must be capable, intelligent, or otherwise special to have attained these positions, thus making their messages more compelling.

Sometimes the simplest inspirational phrase can prompt us to think more deeply or motivate us to keep striving to reach our goals. But if we just read a quote, appreciate its message, then immediately forget what we’ve read and go about living our lives as usual, there’s no point in reading anything “helpful.” Thus, to avoid forgetting motivational quotes, you can post them on your whiteboard wall, whose vast canvas will accommodate large lettering that will help make the texts easier to remember. Once you’ve read the quotes for the month of April listed below, you can keep them in mind by writing them in easily seen areas of your wall to help you go through the month with greater focus on your life goals, and feel more encouraged to face daily challenges. Reading the quotes, pondering their meaning, and putting them into action to improve your life and attitude are the greatest compliments you can pay to the authors and are beneficial to you as well.

THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS ABOUT APRIL

“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” ― William Shakespeare (world-renowned English playwright and poet), Sonnet XCVIII

“April is the kindest month. April gets you out of your head and out working in the garden.” ― Marty Rubin (US author)

“Spring starts in the middle of March but the month of April seems to be the prelude to the promised rebirth taking place in May.” — Rainne Mendoza (Asian-American copywriter and author)

“April does mean the ‘true’ arrival of spring, after all. Get outside, connect with nature, shake loose those final winter cobwebs from your mind and begin a new adventure.” – Julie K. Hage (US writer and blogger)

“There is no glory in star or blossom till looked upon by a loving eye; there is no fragrance in April breezes till breathed with joy as they wander by.” — William Cullen Bryant (US poet, journalist, and editor)

“April is a promise that May is bound to keep.” — Hal Borland (US author, journalist and naturalist)

“April, pride of woodland ways, / Of glad days, / April, bringing hope of prime, / To the young flowers that beneath / Their bud sheath / Are guarded in their tender time.” — Remy Belleau (French Renaissance poet)

“The tantalizing scent transported me to a white, sandy beach lapped by a turquoise sea under a tropical sun. Lime and coconut were the getaway flavors my bakery customers needed in April, tax time.” — Judith Fertig (US cookbook author)

“It is best to be born in April or August when the life-giving Sun is in its exaltation sign Aries or Leo, its home, for then we enter the sea of life on the crest-wave and are backed in the battle of existence by an abundant fund of vim and energy.” — Max Heindel (Danish-American astrologer and mystic)

“Elections should be held on April 16th, the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders.” — Thomas Sowell (US economist)

“You will feel the intoxication if you live life very consciously in this beautiful, merry month of April.” — Summer Bacon (spiritual teacher)

April with its haunting joy, and swift-stinging tears, / Month of mist and music, and the old moon-madness, / Month of magic fluting, the spirit only hears. — Virna Sheard (Canadian poet and novelist)

Sang the sunrise on an amber morn — / Earth, be glad! An April day is born. / Winter’s done, and April’s in the skies, / Earth, look up with laughter in your eyes! — Sir Charles G. D. Roberts (Canadian poet and prose writer)

April will not fail to turn out as it should be, and as it generally is, one of the sweetest, dearest, loveliest months of the year. — Joseph Grimaldi (English actor, comedian, and dancer)

The coming of April heralds the time to plant seeds of magic and fill the heart and home with the joy of light and life.” — Lotuswulf Satyrhorn (US author)

Yes, April is a lovely, soul-inspiring, life-invigorating month. — Joseph Grimaldi (English actor, comedian, and dancer)

In April, the first soft, tender, delicate green of spring salutes the eye in every direction. — Joseph Grimaldi (English actor, comedian and dancer)

“April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks ‘Go.’” — Christopher Morley (US journalist, novelist, essayist, and poet), “John Mistletoe”

REGARDING APRIL WEATHER

“Our spring has come at last with the soft laughter of April suns and shadow of April showers.” — Byron Caldwell Smith (19th century US author)

“Long stormy spring-time, wet contentious April, winter chilling the lap of very May; but at length, the season of summer does come.” ― Thomas Carlyle (British historian, satirical writer, essayist, translator, philosopher, mathematician, and teacher)

“April again! The willow wands are yellow / Rose-red the brambles that the passing wind knows, / Comes a / robin’s note like the note of a ‘cello, / And across the valley, the calling of the crows, / April again!” — Virna Sheard (Canadian poet and novelist)

“A gush of bird-song, a patter of dew / A cloud, and a rainbow’s warning / Suddenly sunshine and perfect blue / An April day in the morning.” – Harriet Prescott Spofford (US writer of novels, poems and detective stories)

“The sun was warm but the wind was chill / You know how it is with an April day / When the sun is out and the wind is still / You’re one month on in the middle of May.” – Robert Frost (renowned US poet), “Two Tramps in Mud Time”

“The April winds are magical And thrill our tuneful frames The garden walks are passional To bachelors and dames.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson (19th century US essayist and lecturer), ‘April’

“Again the blackbirds sings; the streams / Wake, laughing, from their winter dreams / And tremble in the April showers / The tassels of the maple flowers.” – John Greenleaf Whittier

“Rain soaks the earth, prompting growth and preparing the flowers of the season. And we find ourselves shedding our winter coats on the first warm spring day. This is April!” — Sharon Leah

Dry Erase Wall

Whiteboard Coated Walls: Ideal for Social Distancing in the Classroom

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recently updated K–12 school guidelines to reflect the latest research on the practice of physical distancing among students in classroom settings. The CDC now advises that the use of masks should remain universal and that elementary school students should maintain a safe distance of at least three feet from one another in the classroom, whether the COVID-19 transmission rate in their area is low, moderate, substantial, or high. In middle and high schools, the CDC recommends the same amount of distancing in classrooms with universal mask use, where community transmission is low, moderate, or substantial.

SOCIAL DISTANCING WHEN WRITING IN FRONT OF CLASS IS EASY WITH WHITEBOARD WALLS

The CDC’s updated strategy is an important element in the agency’s attempt to help schools open and remain open for in-person instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the use of whiteboard coated walls is one practical way to help in this effort. When writing or drawing on the vast surface of a whiteboard coated wall, the CDC’s guideline for students and teachers to stay at least three feet apart in the classroom setting is easy to follow. Through the use of top-quality ReMARKable whiteboard coating, you can create large enough writing and drawing areas for multiple people to use a coated wall at the same time while also maintaining the safe physical distances required during the period of COVID-19. “Social-distance approved” whiteboard coated walls allow several students at a time to use their virtually unlimited surfaces for working out math problems, brainstorming ideas for class writing assignments, drawing sketches of science projects, posting data on upcoming school events, and countless other activities.

WHITEBOARD COATED WALLS PROVIDE TEACHERS WITH GREAT FLEXIBILITY

In lieu of traditional framed whiteboards, which are costly, have small writing surfaces, are bulky to handle, and are hard to set up, the walls in your classroom can be easily coated with premium whiteboard paint for a low cost per square foot. And, if certain walls or parts of walls need to be left uncoated, you can transform the remaining parts into large whiteboard canvases. Either way, whiteboard paint will provide you with incredible flexibility in arranging your classroom writing areas. In addition, whiteboard-coated walls are ideal to use as projection screens, thus eliminating the need to employ a drop-down screen for video presentations. In this way, applying whiteboard paint to your walls allows you to customize the specific size and area on which you want to create a write-on surface and also permits future use of a projection device in the same area when necessary.

WHITEBOARD COATED WALLS ENHANCE STUDENTS’ ABILITY TO CONCENTRATE

In the current period of uncertainty and unease in our society, students can become more easily distracted than usual while thinking about restrictions like the need to wear masks and practice social distancing instead of focusing on their school work. Under these circumstances, top-quality whiteboard coated walls offer a simple and effective way to hold a class’s attention because their large size and interactive nature spark original ideas and increased engagement in students and teachers alike.
Active listening is one of the most challenging skills for students to learn and also one of the hardest ways for human beings to recall and retain information. The process involves carefully absorbing what a speaker says, showing that the hearer is paying attention, and then giving feedback to clarify the message being conveyed. However, in a large classroom with many students, these steps are not always possible to follow, especially if students are feeling anxious and distracted due to the current social climate. For this reason, your class may find it challenging to listen with full attention, especially during a long lesson that has many new vocabulary words, fine points of math, or bits of historical data to absorb. At times, even shorter lessons may be hard for children to focus on because of distractions in the environment, such as noise caused by construction work or by other students talking.

This issue can be easily resolved through the use of top-quality whiteboard-coated walls. The large surface area available for writing and drawing on whiteboard walls makes it easy to write in large letters or images while a teacher is talking and thus hold students’ attention. On the much smaller surfaces of traditional whiteboards, teachers are always limited with respect to how big they can write or sketch. For this reason, students often have trouble seeing what’s being written or drawn right in front of their eyes, especially in large classrooms where children sitting in the back may have problems seeing all the way to the front. This can also be an issue for visually impaired students, who may have trouble grasping the contents of a lesson due to the small size of a teacher’s writings and drawings on a standard whiteboard.

These problems can all be prevented through the application of high-end whiteboard coating to the classroom walls, where students and teachers can interact and work together during lessons. The vast open surface of a whiteboard coated wall gives free rein to students’ and teachers’ imaginations as they continuously expand their thoughts and image-making abilities through writing and drawing. As a class progresses, and as teachers jot down text and graphics related to a lesson in large letters that everyone can see, students become more engaged and learn better than they would if a smaller surface like a standard whiteboard were used. Thus, by its nature, a whiteboard-coated wall causes everyone involved in a lesson to become more interested and eager to learn.

WHITEBOARD WALLS ENHANCE TEACHERS’ VIDEO PRESENTATION SKILLS

Besides enhancing the experience of writing and drawing, whiteboard coated walls also make it easy to convert standard classroom spaces into highly effective presentation platforms. The walls’ thick, durable coat of whiteboard paint provides a high-gloss surface that sharply captures images produced by a projector, thus making slide and video presentations more engaging and exciting for student audiences. Consequently, whiteboard coated walls save money by providing a first-rate alternative to conventional projection screens, which are costly, hard to handle and set up, and liable to deterioration over time, making it necessary to do regular repairs or buy periodic replacements. The cost of a high-performance, top-quality projection screen can vary from around $1,500 on up based on the size needed. So, in light of the great utility and long lifespan of a premium whiteboard coated wall, along with the cost-efficiency of getting a premium projection screen in the bargain, applying whiteboard paint in classrooms is a wise decision for any school district to make.

OTHER CLASSROOM ITEMS MAY ALSO BE CONVERTED INTO WHITEBOARD SURFACES

Besides a classroom’s walls, many other surfaces such as work tables, storage cabinets, shelves, doors, and students’ and teachers’ desks may also be made into writeable surfaces through the creative application of our premium whiteboard coating. In this way, an entire classroom space can become an “educational zone” to use for writing and drawing that inspires students to use their imaginations by freely expressing their creative thoughts and images. With an entire classroom serving as a space for instructional use and interaction, there’s no need to install messy chalkboards or traditional stain-prone framed whiteboards, no need to pay a hefty fee to have them installed or to move your belongings to have them replaced.

Our high-quality whiteboard coating consists of two separate parts. All you need to do is mix them together according to the manufacturer’s instructions and apply the mixture to the walls and any other items in your classroom that you wish to transform into durable writing surfaces that will last for ten-plus years with normal use and maintenance.

Dry Erase Wall

How Many Coats Of Dry-Erase Paint Should I Use?

Introduction
The manufacturer’s instructions that come with most standard types of paint, such as interior and exterior latex house paint, state that it’s necessary to apply at least two coats of their products to a substrate to obtain the optimal results; namely, a completely opaque, uniformly colored, durable, and cleanable surface. Similarly, many dry-erase coating companies advise applying two layers of their products to get the best effect; that is, a long-lasting surface that is easily written on with dry-erase markers and readily erased with standard dry-erase erasers or cloths. However, with ReMARKable dry erase paint, only one coat is required to obtain a highly resilient, impermeable, and easily written on and erased dry-erase surface that will last for ten or more years of regular use before needing to be replaced.

ONE COAT OF STANDARD PAINT IS INSUFFICIENT FOR ADEQUATE COVERAGE

In contrast, depending on the hue and condition of the surface to be painted, one coat of any standard type of paint is almost never sufficient to provide complete coverage because the color of the substrate tends to seep through the topcoat and thus negatively affect the appearance of the surface tone. This is especially true when the material to be painted on is a substance like wood or metal or when the base paint is of a darker shade than the paint being used for the topcoat because one layer of a lighter-colored product will never thoroughly conceal a darker colored substrate.

THOROUGH CLEANING IS NOT POSSIBLE WITH JUST ONE COAT OF REGULAR PAINT

Also, in many cases, customers desire a cleanable painted surface, and a single coat of standard paint is hard to clean off effectively because these types of paints are easily absorbed into porous or permeable substrates, causing a spotty or irregular look when the surface is cleaned. On the other hand, when a second coat of paint is applied, a kind of seal or barrier is produced, making it easier to wipe off small soiled areas and to thoroughly clean the entire surface when necessary.

ONE COAT OF STANDARD PAINT IS NOT ESPECIALLY DURABLE OR DIRT-RESISTANT

Marks, nicks, and scratches can easily penetrate a single layer of regular paint, creating the need for frequent touch-ups and costing an individual or a company extra expense in time, energy, and money over the long term. The reason for this situation is that a coat of dry standard paint is permeated with countless microscopic pinholes that cause the surface to be porous and absorbent, thus allowing it to be more susceptible to dirt, staining, and untimely wear and tear. However, when two layers of paint are applied to a substrate, the chances of the pinholes lining up perfectly and causing such problems are significantly reduced.

MOST DRY-ERASE PAINTS ALSO REQUIRE THE APPLICATION OF TWO COATS TO BE USEABLE

With most brands of dry-erase coating on the market, whether epoxy- or non-epoxy-based, the same basic type of prep work is needed before application, including the creation of a completely smooth, blemish-free surface and the use of two or more coats of an appropriate base paint whose chemical composition is compatible with that of the coating. However, many less expensive dry-erase paints, especially those available at home-improvement stores and paint retailers, require the use of two top coats if the finished surface is to be easily written on and erased and is to look attractive. If two coats are not applied, ghosting, streaking, and smudging are likely to occur since more layers of coating are needed to adequately build up the chemical compounds that allow the finished surface to be effectively written on and cleaned off. As a result, the manufacturers’ instructions for these lower-priced brands state that two-coat applications are needed to create a properly functioning and good-looking dry-erase surface.

When customers think about covering a certain amount of area, they may feel that using one of these less expensive brands of dry-erase will save them money. However, when they contact our customer service staff, who are also professional dry-erase coating installers, they come to learn that both the clear and white versions of our product require only a one-coat application to be completely usable, so it’s more cost-effective in the long run. This is so because, with the other coatings, the customers would need to buy twice as much material to cover the same amount of area and spend twice as much time and energy applying the products to get results like those obtained with a single layer of our product.

HOW PREMIUM DRY-ERASE COATING DIFFERS FROM OTHER BRANDS AND FROM REGULAR PAINT

Our industrial-grade product requires just a one-coat application. When applied according to instructions, the high-quality chemical agents in our coating’s formula, which is designed to produce easy writability and erasability, are plentiful enough so that only one coat has to be used on a given surface. And only in certain exceptional cases would a second coat be needed; for example, (1) if certain areas were missed or the coating was applied too thinly during the initial application; (2) if someone wrote on the coated surface with a permanent marker or another unsuitable type of marker; or (3) if the first coat were written or drawn on before it had enough time to thoroughly dry. With other brands of dry-erase coating, applying only one layer will create a surface that’s difficult to erase and is prone to smudging, streaking, and ghosting. In other words, it will be hard to get any writing or drawing completely off of the wall. Thus, these brands require multiple applications to build up a sufficient amount of the chemical compounds in their formulas that allow them to be written on and erased without problems.

As previously mentioned, standard types of paint such as interior or exterior house paint require two coats to be applied to produce a smooth and fully covered or opaque surface. If only a single thick coat is rolled on, you may cover a wall completely, but the result will be a textured surface, and this is not desirable, especially when a dry-erase coating is to be applied on top of it. In contrast, our product is actually a type of high-end coating and not a paint, so unlike ordinary paint formulations, it is not absorbed into a substrate but sits on top of it and has the capacity to transform a properly base-coated surface into a dry-erase that’s opaque, stain-resistant, and impermeable, and has superior writing and dry erase capabilities.

Conclusion
Other brands of dry-erase coating generally require a two-layer application to achieve the same effect you would get with one coat of our product, so with these other products, people have to buy twice as much material and pay a paint contractor twice as much money for the time needed to do a proper application. More specifically, even if another brand of dry-erase coating is less expensive than our product, a customer would have to spend at least one-and-a-half times as much money for the product and for the labor required to install it. In addition, the other brands of dry-erase call for at least a 24-hour waiting period between application of the first and second coats, thus creating an added burden for the customer in terms of time spent waiting instead of doing business or carrying out other activities. Yet another benefit of our high-end dry-erase coatings is that they’re backed up by our experienced customer service representatives, who are also professional coating installers and can explain in minute detail how our superior products are able to function at a high level for ten-plus years with just a one-coat application.

Dry Erase Wall

WHITEBOARD WALL QUOTES FOR MARCH 2021 – REMARKABLE

MARCH: THE MONTH OF CHANGE AND IRISH LUCK

According to the western calendar, the first day of spring falls on the 20th of March, a month that usually feels quite chilly, so during March, we begin living in Springtime while feeling that winter has not yet ended. Many who write about the month examine this two-sided quality by describing variable aspects of nature like cold weather changing to warm then back to cold, flowers starting to bud then being covered with snow, and gray skies turning blue then back to gray in a single day. If only Mother Nature would arrange for more regular spring-like conditions throughout March, we’d all be happier. But, as many commentators note, the month’s weather is unpredictable, and hopes of spring are often dashed by a sudden return to winter.

However, despite its unpredictability, March can be seen as one of the cheeriest months of the year. Flowers and trees are budding, spring is on the way, and the major holiday, St. Patrick’s Day on March 17, offers a day-long party with no gifts and little stress. St. Patrick’s Day honors the Irish people and culture as well as a man who was not even Irish. St. Patrick, although born in Britain, came to embody Irish kindness, love, and wit through his devotion to Ireland and his work in freeing its people from paganism. Thus, he became an Irishman in spirit and was honored with a special day.

The first collection of quotes below relates to the qualities of March and its weather, as the authors describe the varied conditions that exist during the month from day to day or even in a single day. One writer compares the ups and downs of March to the variability of human life. Another describes March as “the month of expectation,” while yet another portrays it as both hopeful and frustrating. What are your feelings on the many-sided month of March? The second group of quotes relates to St. Patrick’s Day.

Hopefully, you’ll find pearls of wisdom, sources of inspiration, and touches of humor among these observations, which can be posted on your whiteboard wall to motivate you while working from home to provide a laugh, or to teach your children in the home school setting. According to psychologist and motivation expert Dr. Jonathan Fader, reading stimulating quotes can positively affect people who are open to upbeat messages that have strong images and appeal to their optimistic natures. So, to uplift your mood and help you think about aspects of your life that you might want to change, your whiteboard wall can serve as a posting area. Try regularly writing down three to seven of the quotes that best resonate with your work-from-home or home school goals and agenda. With any luck, you’ll get some food for thought, a touch of humor, and a bit of personal encouragement in the process.

On the Qualities of March and its Weather
“Here we stand in the no-man’s-land between winter and spring … in other words, March. Full of hope and frustration, March is tempestuous and teasing.” – Julie Hage (US writer and blogger)

“Our life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson (19th century US essayist, lecturer, philosopher, and poet)

“March is the Month of Expectation.
The things we do not know —
The Persons of prognostication
Are coming now.” ― Emily Dickinson (19th century US poet), March is the Month of Expectation.

“Only those with tenacity can march forward in March” ― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah (Ghanaian writer and a teacher)

“A windy March is lucky. Every pint of March dust brings a peck of September corn and a pound of October cotton.” — Julia Peterkin (Pulitzer Prize-winning US author)

“March, when days are getting long, Let thy growing hours be strong to set right some wintry wrong.” — Caroline May (19th-century English-American poet, editor, and literary critic)

“March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes and a laugh in her voice.” ― Hal Borland (US author, journalist, and naturalist)

“A light exists in Spring
Not present in the year at
Any other period
When March is scarcely here.” ― Emily Dickinson (19th century US poet)

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” ― Charles Dickens (renowned 19th century English writer and social critic), Great Expectations.

“The stormy March has come at last, with winds and clouds and changing skies; I hear the rushing of the blast that through the snowy valley flies.” ― William C. Bryant (US poet and founder of the Republican Party)

“Earthquakes mean March. . .
The sun of this month cures all.
Therefore, old women say:
Let the sun of March shine on my daughter.”
― Anne Sexton (US poet), The Sermon of Twelve Acknowledgements.

“In March winter is holding back and spring is pulling forward. Something holds and something pulls inside of us too.” ― Jean Hersey (US horticulturist and author)

“It was March. The days of March creeping gustily on like something that man couldn’t hinder and God wouldn’t hurry.” ― Enid Bagnold (British author and playwright)

“This is the perfume of March: rain, loam, feathers, mint.” ― Lisa Kleypas (US author of historical and contemporary romance novels)

“March, master of winds, bright minstrel and marshal of storms that enkindle the season they smite.” — Algernon Charles Swinburne (19th century English poet), March: An Ode

“One swallow does not make a summer, but one skein of geese, cleaving the murk of March thaw, is the spring.” ― Aldo Leopold (US author, philosopher, naturalist, scientist, and environmentalist)

“Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn.” ― Lewis Grizzard (US writer and humorist)

“Indoors or out, no one relaxes in March, that month of wind and taxes; the wind will presently disappear, the taxes last us all the year.” ― Ogden Nash (US poet known for his light verse)

“March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.” ― English Proverb

REGARDING ST. PATRICK’S DAY

“The whole world is Irish on the seventeenth o’ March!” — Thomas Augustine Daly (Irish-American humorist, poet, and journalist)
“Everybody is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, but if your name is Eisenhower, you’ve got to wear something green to show it.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower (34th President of the United States)

“St. Patrick’s Day is an enchanted time — a day to begin transforming winter’s dreams into summer’s magic.” — Adrienne Cook (US columnist and public speaker)

“The list of Irish saints is past counting, but in it all, no other figure is as human, friendly, and lovable as St. Patrick.” — Stephen Gwynn (Irish journalist, biographer, author, poet, and politician)

Whether it’s St. Patrick’s Day or not, everyone has a little luck o’ the Irish in them. — Laura Sommers (US author), Best Traditional Irish Recipes for St. Patrick’s Day

“The Irish celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in gratitude for the service he did them in bringing to the Irish their most priceless possession — the gift of faith.” — Therese Duffy (US educator)

“St. Patrick’s Day is a celebration filled with folklore, fantasy, food, and fun. From shamrocks and leprechauns to green food and drink, this is a holiday for all ages.” — Susanne Myers (US blogger), The Hillbilly Housewife, On St. Patrick’s Day Everyone Can Be Irish

“The Irish have gained a reputation over the centuries for being warm, kind, and hospitable. These characteristics are most in evidence at St. Patrick’s Day every year, when people of Irish descent organize parades and parties.” — Shannon Farrell (US television and film actress), St. Patrick’s Day Recipes

“May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.” – Traditional Irish Blessing

WhiteBoard Paint

WHITEBOARD WALL QUOTES FOR FEBRUARY 2021 – REMARKABLE

FEBRUARY: A TIME FOR LOVE AND WINTRY WEATHER

February may be the year’s shortest month, but Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day guarantee that it isn’t overlooked on the way to spring. The word February is thought to come from the Latin name Februalia for the ancient Roman Festival of Purification. The root “februo” means “I purify by sacrifice.” Considering the challenging weather that occurs in many areas during February, it’s easy to see the month as a time of purification when frigid temperatures and dark skies test people’s spirit and determination. The Snow Moon is the name for the Full Moon in February, relating to the month’s often snowy weather. Some Native American tribes named it the Hunger Moon due to the scarce food sources available during the month, while another name is Storm Moon due to February’s blustery weather. Among the ancient Anglo-Saxons of Britain, February was known as “Sprout-kale” as it was the time of year when kale and cabbage first sprouted from the ground and became edible.

Below is a group of quotations related to February that reflect a wide range of feelings and views on the month that many people associate with love and romance and others with frigid weather and dark skies. Hopefully, you’ll find some pearls of wisdom and sources of inspiration among these quotes along with touches of humor that you can post on your whiteboard coated wall to inspire you in the work-from-home office, give you a laugh, or encourage your children in their homeschool assignments. According to psychologist and motivation expert Dr. Jonathan Fader, reading affirmative quotes can have a beneficial effect on people who are open to upbeat messages that include strong images and appeal to their hopeful nature. So, to help you uplift your thinking and examine aspects of your life that you’d like to change, you can use your Whiteboard Wall as a posting area. Try regularly writing down three to seven of the quotes that best resonate with your work-from-home or homeschool goals. With any luck, you’ll get some food for thought, humor, and personal encouragement in the process.

VIEWS ON FEBRUARY

“Though February is short, it is filled with lots of love and sweet surprises” ― Charmaine J. Forde (US author)

“February — the month of love? No wonder it’s the shortest one in the calendar.” ― Dinesh Kumar Biran (magazine publisher and author)

“There is always in February some one day, at least, when one smells the yet distant, but surely coming summer.” — Gertrude Jekyll (British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer, and artist)

“Freezing
cold winds,
biting chills, and
white snow-fluffed hills
Valentine’s Day, oh, how gay!
Presidents’ Day is coming our way. -=
February, sweet and small, greatest month of all.” — Eric Lies (US author and cleric), 28-Word Poem for February

“Why does February feel like one big Tuesday?” ― Todd Stocker (US author)

“The February born will find
Sincerity and peace of mind;
Freedom from passion and from care,
If they the Pearl (or green Amethyst) will wear.” — Anonymous

“The most serious charge which can be brought against New England is not Puritanism but February.” — Joseph Wood Krutch (US writer, critic, and naturalist)

“Even though February was the shortest month of the year, sometimes it seemed like the longest.” ― J. D. Robb (US author of romance novels)

“February is the uncertain month, neither black nor white but all shades between by turns. Nothing is sure.” — Gladys Hasty Carroll (US novelist)

“In the coldest February, as in every other month in every other year, the best thing to hold on to in this world is each other.” — Linda Ellerbee (US journalist)

“February is for curmudgeons, whingebags, and misanthropes . . . it’s so short. There is nothing good about it, which is why it’s so great.” ―Lionel Shriver (US author and journalist)

“If you meet 29th February, think of something unique, for it is the only day that defines a year as a leap year. It is the only day that makes February truly unique.” — Ernest Agyemang Yeboah (Ghanian writer and teacher)

FEBRUARY WEATHER

“Late February, and the air’s so balmy snowdrops and crocuses might be fooled into early blooming. Then, the inevitable blizzard will come, blighting our harbingers of spring, and the numbed yards will go back undercover. In Florida, it’s strawberry season — shortcake, waffles, berries, and cream will be penciled on the coffee shop menus.” — Gail Mazur (US poet), The Idea of Florida during a Winter Thaw

“Why, what’s the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?” — William Shakespeare (world-renowned English playwright and poet), Much Ado About Nothing

“The February sunshine steeps your boughs and tints the buds and swells the leaves within.”
— William C. Bryant (US romantic poet, journalist, and editor)

“Late February days; and now, at last,
Might you have thought that
Winter’s woe was past;
So fair the sky was and so soft the air.”
– William Morris (British textile designer, poet, and novelist)

THOUGHTS ON VALENTINE’S DAY

Valentine’s Day is thought to have evolved from the spring holiday Lupercalia, which the ancient Romans celebrated on February 15. The feast honored the god Lupercus, who was thought to protect people and their herds from wolves. On this day, dances were held for young single men and women. The men drew the women’s names from pieces of papyrus placed in a bowl. The men then danced with their partners and were required to protect them throughout the New Year, which started in March. In many cases, the partners became sweethearts and soon got married. When the custom of February dances was restored in medieval times, men would wear their sweethearts’ names on their sleeves. Even now, we refer to people who easily express their feelings as ‘wearing their hearts on their sleeves.’” Below are some thoughts on this ancient holiday.

“Without Valentine’s Day, February would be … well, January.” – Jim Gaffigan (US comedian)

“This February 14th, take a moment to laugh thoroughly at your singlehood; everybody else does!” – Anonymous

“I had every intention of celebrating Valentine’s Day, but when Cupid got around to me, it seems he had run out of arrows.” – Anonymous

“Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate the joy of being in love. Unless you’re single and lonely, then it’s called Laundry Day.” – Dane Cook (US comedian and film actor)

“Instead of celebrating Valentine’s Day this year, I’m celebrating Discount Chocolate Tuesday.” – Anonymous

“In the best of all possible worlds, February 14 is a pleasant and sentimental opportunity to lavish your partner with attention or move your relationship to the next level.” ― Pepper Schwartz (US sociologist and sexologist)

“Don’t be sad if you are single on Valentine’s Day. Work hard, achieve something and see, one day, the right person will cross your path.” – Harshal “Harry” Bhatt (US singer, instrumentalist, engineer, and poet)

“If lovers get half price off on Valentine’s Day, then singles should just get everything for free!” – Anonymous

“Today is Valentine’s Day. Or, as men like to call it, Extortion day.” – Jay Leno (US comedian and talk show host)

“If acquiring a boyfriend was as easy as becoming fat, I certainly would have had one to share my Valentine’s Day with.” – Anonymous

“This year’s Valentine’s Day, I will enjoy long, romantic walks to the fridge.” – Anonymous

“Valentine’s Day: the holiday that reminds you that if you don’t have a special someone, you’re alone.” – Lewis Black (US comedian, author, playwright, social critic, and actor)

“The only bubble in the flat champagne of February is Valentine’s Day. It was no accident that our ancestors pinned Valentine’s Day on February’s shirt: he or she lucky enough to have a lover in frigid, antsy February has cause for celebration, indeed.” — Tom Robbins (US novelist)

10X MEETING EFFECTIVENESS WITH A WHITEBOARD WALL

WHITEBOARD WALLS

By their very nature, whiteboard walls enhance meeting effectiveness due to their large, open, inviting surfaces, great accessibility, and easy erasability. The fact that whiteboard painted surfaces extend from floor to ceiling and from corner to corner in your office, classroom, clinic, or other venue makes them accessible to any team member of any size or physical skill level. At meetings, this means that your staff should feel welcome to freely express their ideas without fear of having to erase one part of their text and then write the next part due to the size limitations of the surface, as they might with traditional framed whiteboards. It also means that meeting participants who may not normally feel at ease speaking their views in meetings, such as those who are shy, new to the team, or of lower rank in the office hierarchy, will feel less inhibited and more willing to share their opinions when confronted with the open, engaging canvas of a whiteboard painted wall.

SMART MARKERS

So-called smart markers are standard dry erase markers (preferably of the low-odor variety) that have been placed in a smart sleeve, which is linked electronically to a sensor to your whiteboard painted wall’s surface. The smart marker sleeve is a device that can store digitized dry erase marker writings and drawings in its internal memory, thus creating a high-tech means to make your meetings more collaborative and successful by streaming the contents created on your whiteboard painted wall in real-time to those in attendance. In addition, the sleeve can spontaneously stream the proceedings of your meeting to other people with the appropriate smartphone apps or computer software located anywhere in the world. The device can also sync data to cloud services, making your gatherings truly global in scope and adding a whole new dimension to the traditional concept of a staff meeting, seminar, conference, or brainstorming session.

PASS THE BUCK

Make sure that your meetings remain on schedule and keep moving along smoothly by having multiple team members write their ideas on your whiteboard wall in sequence. In this way, everyone can have a chance to use the smart markers for collaborative communication and group feedback on their creative suggestions. If you assign a specific length of time for presenting each item on your agenda, you will ensure that all of your team members seriously consider the items and whether there will be enough time to present them, especially if each item is to be discussed by a different team member. This technique reinforces a sense of responsibility and focus in your team and helps to make certain that everyone gets an opportunity to speak their piece while at the same time ensuring that the agreed-upon schedule for the meeting is not extended.

AGENDA POLICE

At the start of a meeting, you should ask the participants to agree that everyone will adhere closely to the day’s agenda of items. With a massive whiteboard painted wall on which to write and draw, you’ll be able to stay focused on the meeting’s agenda more effectively than you would if you were using the limited space of a traditional framed whiteboard. Because the wall’s huge surface area will allow you and all of your team to post your thoughts before the meeting and let people give input on one another’s ideas, you’ll know the agenda items ahead of time and will have given feedback about the most important topics to be discussed. In this way, any deviations from the sequence of the day’s agenda topics will be kept to a minimum, and a strong focus will be maintained throughout the session. If, after all of this planning, some unforeseen discussion subjects do come up, you can designate a specific “holding area” on your whiteboard wall where those ideas are written down for later discussion at another meeting.

You can also keep close watch on the time that has elapsed by periodically writing down the number of minutes remaining for the meeting on your whiteboard wall and reminding the team of the time by saying, for example, “I’m sorry to interrupt here, but there are … minutes left before we have to stop for the day.”

PLANNED LOSS OF CONCENTRATION

You can plan a short break during your meetings to minimize loss of concentration and reduce disorganized thinking among the staff members in attendance. Issues with maintaining focus generally result from fatigue, a sense of tedium, and over-expenditure of mental energy among participants. In tasks like participating in meetings or conferences that require a great deal of concentration and the ability to grasp numerous details, people’s ability to focus is always affected. So scheduling a brief break period of a specific length during a meeting can refresh everyone’s mind, allowing for better comprehension of agenda items and a more productive flow of ideas afterward.

STOP – WHEN THE TIME IS UP, IT IS UP

It’s important to always call a halt to your meetings at the agreed-upon time. Then communicate with your team members to find out if they understood and agreed with the main points discussed and if they have any last-minute additions to make or issues they feel still need to be resolved. The large surface area of your whiteboard painted wall should allow you to record all of the major agenda items and team members’ comments and reactions during the meeting so that such eleventh-hour observations or questions will be easier and more efficient to deal with after the meeting has ended.

Toward the conclusion of the meeting, two key questions to ask yourself and your team members are (1) whether you feel that all of the meeting’s major agenda topics were covered, and (2) if there are any more topics to consider, what steps need to be taken to address them now that the meeting is over.

In addition, after the meeting, if no decisions were finalized and no tasks or projects for implementation were assigned to team members, you might also contemplate the usefulness of the meeting. As time is money, productive business gatherings call for effective ways to make sure that the hours or minutes you spend collaborating aren’t squandered. The following are some ideas on how to efficiently close your meetings: (1) briefly review the decisions that were made at the session either by writing them down on your whiteboard painted wall or by stating them orally; (2) go over all the duties assigned to be accomplished by your team; and (3) list the team members involved and the completion dates. It might be even more effective to ask individual team members to share with the team the specific tasks they were assigned to complete, thus ensuring they are on target and willingly accept their assigned projects.

READY, STEADY

Make sure that everyone will be ready to participate in your meeting at the agreed-upon starting time by posting a reminder on your whiteboard painted wall a day or two in advance. With its huge canvas, the wall can be used to write the message in over-sized letters so that your team members will definitely get the communication about when to start gathering.

THE INTERACTIVE AGENDA

During meetings, note-taking software and apps can be of great help to you and your team members because they allow you to record text and drawings produced on your whiteboard painted wall that can be easily distributed electronically to the meeting participants and other team members anywhere in the world for whom the agenda items are relevant. In this way, your smart dry erase marker combined with your whiteboard wall can allow your international staff members to feel like they’re right in the office, as they can see and take notes on your agenda items and thus stay connected with what’s happening with the team in real-time.