1. Post It Note Pedagogy
Top ten tips for Teaching and learning

2. Post It Note Pedagogy’ – Top Ten Tips
for Teaching & Learning
Post It Note Pedagogy’ – Top Ten Tips
for Teaching & Learning
The humble post it note
is so flexible, easy to
use and multi-purpose
that it most surely must
qualify for the ultimate
low cost, high impact
teaching tool.
The humble post it note
is so flexible, easy to
use and multi-purpose
that it most surely must
qualify for the ultimate
low cost, high impact
teaching tool.

3. Why Post It Notes?Why Post It Notes?
The very nature and size of
them encourages, even
demands, a precise and
concise use of language.
Rather than pages of notes,
students have to be
selective, synthesise and
exercise higher order
thinking to use post it notes
successfully – it can be very
much a case of less is more.
The very nature and size of
them encourages, even
demands, a precise and
concise use of language.
Rather than pages of notes,
students have to be
selective, synthesise and
exercise higher order
thinking to use post it notes
successfully – it can be very
much a case of less is more.
And they are cheapAnd they are cheap

4. Question WallQuestion Wall
Post it note provides a
simple method for placing
their questions onto the
wall. These post it notes can
be grouped by sectors on
the wall, depending upon
the question type. The post
it is moveable and flexible,
so you can even use one
question from one student
and have another student
communicate the answer –
the options are endless.
Post it note provides a
simple method for placing
their questions onto the
wall. These post it notes can
be grouped by sectors on
the wall, depending upon
the question type. The post
it is moveable and flexible,
so you can even use one
question from one student
and have another student
communicate the answer –
the options are endless.

5. Post It Note Formative Feedback
The post it note provides a
quick option for feedback - one
or two targets in a post it can
really shape any ongoing
classwork. It also encourages
concise, targeted teacher
feedback. For example having
spellings corrected for them is
little help for students, but a
post it note regarding a spelling
rule, with some hints for
improvements could initiate
some productive self-reflection
and proof reading.

6. Post It Note evaluation and self/peer
assessment
Post It Note evaluation and self/peer
assessment
Similar to two stars and a
wish/ WWW/EBI. Using two
different colours of Post It
note pupils can write on one
colour what went well and
on the other colour even
better if.
It is also possible to print
templates onto Post-it notes
for assessment as learning.
See additional sheet for
instructions
Similar to two stars and a
wish/ WWW/EBI. Using two
different colours of Post It
note pupils can write on one
colour what went well and
on the other colour even
better if.
It is also possible to print
templates onto Post-it notes
for assessment as learning.
See additional sheet for
instructions

7. Subject specific vocabularySubject specific vocabulary
As crucial subject specific terms arise in
the lesson they can be identified by using
post it notes, which can gradually build
up a useful set of terms for a given
scheme of work
If students are working in groups, or as a
whole class, one student could be
allocated the responsibility of recording
key words from the lesson and noting
them on a post it. As a plenary, the
student or the teacher could reflect upon
these post it notes. The teacher could
initiate enquiry about whether they form
into a pattern.
The post it could be a way of organising
the terms into a distinct sequence or
diagram, to reflect relatedness or
hierarchical patterns
As crucial subject specific terms arise in
the lesson they can be identified by using
post it notes, which can gradually build
up a useful set of terms for a given
scheme of work
If students are working in groups, or as a
whole class, one student could be
allocated the responsibility of recording
key words from the lesson and noting
them on a post it. As a plenary, the
student or the teacher could reflect upon
these post it notes. The teacher could
initiate enquiry about whether they form
into a pattern.
The post it could be a way of organising
the terms into a distinct sequence or
diagram, to reflect relatedness or
hierarchical patterns

8. Mini narrative / micro writingMini narrative / micro writing
Forget 140 character tweet!
Get pupils to summarise in
ten words on a post –it
note. Great as a swift
starter, or even a
summative plenary.
This compression of
language gets them to really
focus in upon the essential
information, whilst
providing a useful cross
curricular literacy strategy.
Forget 140 character tweet!
Get pupils to summarise in
ten words on a post –it
note. Great as a swift
starter, or even a
summative plenary.
This compression of
language gets them to really
focus in upon the essential
information, whilst
providing a useful cross
curricular literacy strategy.

9. The ‘ideas’ treeThe ‘ideas’ tree
A description for any activity
where you get students to
brainstorm ideas for a given topic
or concept. The teacher can
shuffle the post it notes around
creatively to organise the ideas to
give form to their collective ideas.
These ideas can provide a semi-
permanent resource in the
classroom for students to utilise
and support their learning, and
they can provide a ready made
resource to recap prior learning
or to provide a ready made
plenary to reflect upon progress.
A description for any activity
where you get students to
brainstorm ideas for a given topic
or concept. The teacher can
shuffle the post it notes around
creatively to organise the ideas to
give form to their collective ideas.
These ideas can provide a semi-
permanent resource in the
classroom for students to utilise
and support their learning, and
they can provide a ready made
resource to recap prior learning
or to provide a ready made
plenary to reflect upon progress.

10. Guess who/what?Guess who/what?
Place a key
word/character/concept
etc. onto a post it and
place it upon the forehead
of a student – they
subsequently have a
limited number of
questions they can ask
before they guess the
term/topic on the post it.
Place a key
word/character/concept
etc. onto a post it and
place it upon the forehead
of a student – they
subsequently have a
limited number of
questions they can ask
before they guess the
term/topic on the post it.

11. The Post It plenaryThe Post It plenary
Pupils leave a post it on a
board/wall/door which reflects
upon the learning of the lesson –
perhaps with a simple ‘Today I
learnt….’ sentence stem to
scaffold their response. Some or
all of the student responses can
be revisited in the subsequent
lesson; whilst the teacher can use
the responses to inform planning.
Another variation on the strategy
is to have a learning arrow which
indicates various degrees of
progress, as shown.
Pupils leave a post it on a
board/wall/door which reflects
upon the learning of the lesson –
perhaps with a simple ‘Today I
learnt….’ sentence stem to
scaffold their response. Some or
all of the student responses can
be revisited in the subsequent
lesson; whilst the teacher can use
the responses to inform planning.
Another variation on the strategy
is to have a learning arrow which
indicates various degrees of
progress, as shown.

12. Opinion linesOpinion lines
Pupils have to decide where their
post it would reside on an
opinion line to represent their
viewpoint, with some concise
justification for their views.
Again, the post it note is perfect
because of the flexibility it
provides – with subsequent
feedback, the post it may shift
along the opinion line.
The post it provides
instantaneous correction – the
opportunity to change the
position on the line once each
post it point or idea has been
discussed.
Pupils have to decide where their
post it would reside on an
opinion line to represent their
viewpoint, with some concise
justification for their views.
Again, the post it note is perfect
because of the flexibility it
provides – with subsequent
feedback, the post it may shift
along the opinion line.
The post it provides
instantaneous correction – the
opportunity to change the
position on the line once each
post it point or idea has been
discussed.

13. ‘Pin the Post It on the Donkey’‘Pin the Post It on the Donkey’
This is a catch-all description
for when you project an
image onto the whiteboard
and ask students to provide
a written response which
they then place on the
relevant area. For example
in geography the name of a
country placed on the right
part of the World map; in
Maths, this could be placing
the answer on the relevant
point of a graph.
This is a catch-all description
for when you project an
image onto the whiteboard
and ask students to provide
a written response which
they then place on the
relevant area. For example
in geography the name of a
country placed on the right
part of the World map; in
Maths, this could be placing
the answer on the relevant
point of a graph.

14. An extra one – Post It seating
plans
Have each pupils name
written a separate post-it.
You can then rearrange
the post it notes when
you want the seating plan
to be different without
having to rewrite every
name again.
More of a management strategy
than T & L, but one I still like

15. Any ideas?
Please pick up a post it
note and let me know
how you use post-it notes
in lessons.
I will put all the ideas
together to share with
everyone
THANK YOU