Decorating Your Secondary Classroom {18 Things to Consider}

 

  My friends over at Created for Learning put together an excellent blog post with tips from several secondary teachers on decorating classrooms. You'll want to head over there to get the entire blog post, but I'll share a few here as a tease. ;)

It's weird how sometimes our decorations end up disconnected with how old our students really are. I teach 7th and 8th graders. Some of them come from fine, constant, healthy family and personal lives.

They are the 3rd and 4th sibling to come through our school and succeed. They play Flappy Bird, use Snapchat and Ask.fm, watch videos on Vine and play medieval phone app games before school.

However, while still maintaining privacy, I can share that just last year, I had students bullying each other, students sharing racy photos on social media to improve modeling portfolios, students cutting themselves, students attempting suicide, even students creating fake online profiles to bully themselves to gain attention.

This is the middle school world we teach in. These are the students we are decorating our rooms for. These just might not be clip-art kids. And high school is another giant leap forward (or backward), but it's a giant leap somewhere. What would our classrooms look like if we designed them to engage these minds and attentions?

As a teacher, you can use words in clever ways to ìdecorateî your classroom, not only to fill up walls but also to make your students wise. One idea is to title specific areas of your wall in a

targeted/meaningful way.  Carol used an idiom over her writing wall to teach idioms and open the door to the fundamentals of figurative language. In Johnís class, he uses ìCognitive Content Dictionariesî to be placed in a prominent locations which teaches key academic vocabulary as well as ìTier 2î vocabulary to aid in understanding text for EL learners.  Inspirational or humorous posters and quotes can also be used to fill smaller spaces and give students ideas to ponder on their own.

 

I have several items that I have in my room from my first year of teaching in 1999. Why do I keep them around? Mostly because they are either funny, sentimental, timeless, or related to a favorite book. Here are some examples: 

• (Funny) Close to Home (by John McPherson) comic: It has hung on my classroom door for many
years. I like to show my students that no matter how strict I may seem, I'm nothing compared to Mrs. Mutner. 

• (Sentimental) Pictures of former students: Students love looking at pictures of past students. Plus, it helps me remember the names of my former students.

 

• (Timeless) This quote is timeless (and a great lesson on perspective), funny, and sentimental: my brother was an assistant coach for the St. Francis baseball team at the time (April, 1996). Robert Morris threw in the towel after the fourth inning, but the fact that they persevered until then also shows
character.

 

• (Favorite Book): My To Kill a Mockingbird framed pictures. TKaM is still my favorite book and I love being able to share my love for it with my students. My framed pictures and book review from 1960 are probably my most prized classroom items.

As a 14 year teaching veteran, I have tried countless ways to create bulletin boards for cheap. Cost does become a factor, and something a teacher should think of- we spend enough money on our classes without adding the extra cost of bulletin board decorations.  

I have found that some of my most engaging and most talked about boards were not the ones with flawless borders and themed decorations. Actually, it was just the contrary- Black butcher paper background, with the titles and words written in chalk with borders that were hand-drawn, got quite the reaction from my students. These example pictures will help explain what I mean:

 

Also, don't forget to use items in your room. For example, when teaching about a topic, I hang mentor texts from my bulletin board so the kids can "see" examples of published work that supports the topic. 

 

Remember to keep it simple, engaging, and useful!

All praise and adoration to my teachers growing up, but I can't remember a single one that decorated their room for us guys. And I probably lean toward decorating for the boys...I tend to teach novels that will engage boys. So we deserve it to both genders to take a good long hard look at our rooms and decorations and ask if the boys and girls will be entertained and informed, tantalized and taught.

"But what if I think it's good? What do I do then?"

  Ask our students. They will be honest. Sometimes too much so. But we'll always find out what they think. If we need to, we can do a quick anonymous poll or ballot or something. But we can find out what each gender thinks, if we ask.

CLICK HERE to read ALL the tips for secondary teachers!

Again, thank you Created for Learning for putting together this great blog post with fabulous tips from our fellow secondary teachers! The contributors are listed below:

Blog Contributors Cliff's Notes

Laura Randazzo >>> Blog ||| TeachersPayTeachers Store
The Teacher Team >>> Blog ||| TeachersPayTeachers Store
Tracee Orman >>> Blog ||| TeachersPayTeachers Store 

Created by Mr. Hughes >>> Blog ||| TeachersPayTeachers Store
Julie Faulkner >>> Blog ||| TeachersPayTeachers Store
Students of History >>> Blog ||| TeachersPayTeachers Store 

Created for Learning >>> Blog ||| TeachersPayTeachers Store

Say Goodbye to Your Laminator: A Better Way to Preserve Visual Aids in Your Classroom

Use sheet protectors rather than lamination for your visual aids .

I love my laminator. I use it often for making bookmarks and preserving posters for my classroom. But several years ago I decided for my 8.5"x11" visuals, it was better to use plastic sheet protectors. Here are my reasons why:

1. For your classroom visuals, using sheet protectors is more cost-effective.
You can purchase a package of 100 for less than $10 (for economy quality; less than $20/200 for better quality). I'm pretty sure that's cheaper than the laminator film I buy. If you use the thermal pouches, you'll save about $5 per 100, plus you won't have to cut anything.

2. Visuals store easily in a three-ring binder.
Anyone who has tried to store laminated posters in a cupboard knows what a pain it is. They slip off one another and the sizes are always odd. And I can never find the ones I'm looking for. I've tried putting them in large envelopes and labeling them, but then I have to pull them all out to find the one(s) I want to use. In a three-ring binder, I can flip through the pages quickly to find what I'm looking for.

3. Visuals store nicely--without creasing--in a three-ring binder.
Not only are they easier to find in a binder, they are less likely to get damaged. I can't count how many posters I've accidentally bent or creased while storing them. Having them all organized in a binder makes it a cinch for finding what I want and for keeping them like new.

4. Sheet protectors can be reused.
If you decide you don't like or don't want to use a certain visual aid anymore, there's no loss in money. Just slip it out of the sheet protector and put a new one in. Laminating is permanent. If you change your mind on the visual or notice a typo, you can't undo the lamination.

5. Sheet protectors won't ruin your visual aid.
How many times have you had a colorful poster or an example of student work that was ruined because you ran out of laminator film in the middle of it? Or it crinkled up while running through the machine? Or it created air bubbles on the page? I've had all these things happen and more. I've had to apologize to students for ruining their perfect collage or drawing, and wasted so much printer ink reprinting new signs that were destroyed in the laminator. I love the fact that there is absolutely no risk with the sheet protectors.

EXAMPLES FOR CLASSROOM USE

You can store all your class pictures and visual aids in a three-ring binder.

-Class pictures: I like to take a group picture of each class at the beginning of the year. I also take additional pictures during Homecoming Week (dress-up days), new semester (I always have new classes with shifting schedules and move-ins), and at the end of the year. I used to do old-school scrapbooking with the developed pictures, but with digital I just place them on a fun background then print myself. Each year I have a new crop of pictures to add to my "class pictures" binder, which is so much easier than scrapbooking! My students love looking through the pictures to find their older siblings, aunts/uncles, cousins, and--in the next few years--their parents.

-Showcase student work: I like to display student work throughout the year. The sheet protectors keep their work protected from things like marker dust on the white board and their classmates writing or drawing on them. Within my individual units, I always keep a few examples of exemplary student work to show future classes. Be sure to ask permission; some students do not want theirs used, or are willing if their name is covered up.

-Visual aids by unit: I have binders of visuals for each novel unit I teach. In addition, I have one for poetry & creative writing, one for short stories, one for all my Shakespeare units (The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet), one for journalism/expository writing, one for persuasive & narrative writing, and one for miscellaneous literature and authors.

Sure, sheet-protectors definitely have some drawbacks: 
-they are limited by their size (8.5" x 11")
-they aren't as thick as lamination
-they could slide out (unless you tape the open end)
-the three-ring tab isn't the prettiest for display
 But even with these cons, I still love to use sheet protectors for most of my classroom displays. 

Do you use sheet protectors or laminate? Or something else? Feel free to comment and post a link. 

Thanks for stopping by Mrs. Orman's Classroom!