Hey, everyone! I just wanted to take a moment to share a learning environment strategy that I’ve used this past week (successfully, I might add). It is called Post-It Parking Lot.
The Post-It Parking Lot is a place for students to share ideas that they have learned. When they realize they have gained new knowledge, they jot down the new knowledge on a Post-It note, and place it in their assigned square in the “parking lot.” The “parking lot” is on a bulletin board near the front of the classroom, so they can easily see it and access it. The best part of this practice is that it makes students think: “What am I learning right now?”
The first day that the Post-It Parking Lot was up, students were adding 4, 5, 6, even 10 Post-Its to their parking spaces! I was a little fearful that their notes would start to fall off, or weigh the paper-lot down, so I’ve since limited each student to 2-3 Post-Its for now. I know some of you may think, “You shouldn’t limit the students’ thinking like that!” That was my initial thought, too. But now, instead of sharing every little detail, students are prioritizing the information that they are receiving, and their desire to learn more information throughout the day has heightened! I couldn’t ask for more!!
Now, I didn’t invent this idea so I can’t take credit for it. In fact, I think I originally saw this idea on Pinterest. I decided to adapt it to my classroom and my students love it! I hope you’ll give it a try in your learning environments to see what your students are learning, too.