It's hard to separate the image of school from the image of the teacher at the front, constructing sentences or solving equations in chalk, a natural substance that can easily be erased, and washed from a board that was used over and over. Early chalkboards--invented in Scotland in the early 19th century--were made from pieces of heavy slate. The fact that these blackboards were quickly used all over the world, even in isolated, rural areas, shows how desperate educators were for a material that could be used indefinitely. In the days before copy machines, students would transcribe the spelling words or math problems from the board to their own small slates, eliminating the need for frugal families to invest in reams of paper and boxes of expensive pencils.
As time went by, the massive slate boards were replaced by the more modern chalkboards, which were primarily porcelain-coated steel. Unlike the original stone-based boards, these lose their surface over many years. There are several ways to restore this coating, and this is called chalkboard resurfacing.
If you have a freestanding or small chalkboard, it might very well be more practical to replace it. However, if the chalkboard is installed in the wall at the front of the classroom, it most likely be more cost-effective to restore its finish. Tearing out construction, especially construction done more than 30 years ago, involves asbestos removal, a costly and sometimes hazardous process.
Painting Your Chalkboard
Good-quality latex paints are sold for the express purpose of resurfacing chalkboards. They are identified as chalkboard paints and are not hard to find, because do-it-yourself parents are using them on the walls of nurseries and children's bedrooms to convert an ordinary wall into a chalkboard.
Benjamin Moore makes a chalkboard paint, as do Rustoleum and Glick Art. These paints may be applied to wood, sheetrock, glass, plaster, tile or metal to make any surface into a chalk board, or to resurface a chalkboard.
Re-coating Your Chalkboard
When schools do massive resurfacing, they often work with a company that coats metal panels with porcelain to the exact dimensions of the old chalkboards. These new surfaces are cut and framed to fit neatly over the old surface. This is an easier task for school maintenance staff than repainting hundreds of blackboards.
Advantages of Chalkboards in the Modern Age
Chalk is a natural and inexpensive material. A school's supply of chalk will last longer than markers, which dry out and drip. Chalkboards are more friendly to little hands that might slip on dry-erase boards.
Disadvantages of Chalkboards in the Modern Age
Some people find it irritating to breathe chalk dust. The "chalkboard" of the future is a video screen, so resurfacing may very well become obsolete before its value is realized.
