[VSpike]

I was at school in the 80s and 90s in the UK and this brings back very fond memories of a highly eccentric Latin teacher I had, who mastered this technique and used it frequently. The other memorable thing about him was how he'd tell us he was going to do some photocopying and head off with no paperwork, only to return 5 minutes later still with no paperwork but smelling of pipe smoke.

Some more modern classrooms had the greenish boards that were a continuous loop that you could roll, but the older ones had black ones that were extremely heavy (maybe slate?). Some of them had a counterbalanced pair on ropes and pulleys in wooden runners, so that when you slid one up the other would come down. I remember in one lesson the ropes snapped and the front-most board came whistling down like a guillotine past the face of the maths teacher and landed with a bang like a gunshot. He was unhurt luckily but was extremely pale and shaken - understandably!

[idleproc]

I too was at school in the UK during the 80s and 90s and don't have any fond memories. Maybe because it wasn't a school with Latin in the curriculum. I had two science teachers: a young one and one nearing retirement.

The young science teacher spent the whole lesson writing from his notes onto the blackboard, while the whole class just copied it verbatim. His only interaction was asking whether everyone had finished, before wiping one-half of the board clean to continue.

The other science teacher had us read from our textbooks all lesson, and his only interaction was to get annoyed when we made so much racket he couldn't read the newspaper. He always seemed the smarter of the two teachers to me.

I got the same grade in both exams.

[masfuerte]

I went to one of the best schools in England allegedly. We had a new English teacher who spent a whole year doing the silent notes on the blackboard thing. He would come in early so he could get a head start. We also had a PE/French teacher who couldn't speak French. Shit teachers are everywhere.

[prashp]

I was in a school in the UK during the 00s and I have OK memories. It had Latin in the curriculum, so I think we can conclude Latin does not correlate with fondness of memories.

The teachers used annoying 'SMART' boards and if they ever got board marker ink on them they would freak out.

[nickdothutton]

I considered one of those rollerboards from Wilson and Garden, Ltd, in Glasgow, UK, for my home office. Somehow working with ipad+pencil is just not the same.

[gilleain]

As a compromise, you can get blackboard paint, and paint any size of surface you want to be a blackboard.

[Cthulhu_]

You can also get magnet paint, so you can put up magnet thingies. I don't think blackboard paint is as durable as real blackboards, but then, different use cases.