what is the purpose of a tableau?
There is just something about tableau that makes it a really accessible, flexible and useful tool for teachers. Although the tableau can also be used as a teaching tool, at this time of the year you may be needing or wanting to review information or check for understanding and the tableau is an engaging way to do it. If you are not familiar with the term tableau, it is the French word for picture. Tableau is used in theatre to create frozen pictures to depict scenes, similar to illustrations in a picture book. In fact, I have often used illustrations from picture books as jumping off points for students to create tableaux (the plural form of tableau).