• home
  • store

ASCD Logo

  • ASCD.org
  • Store
  • Blog
  • Virtual Events
  • Navigate Applications
    • ASCD Activate
    • myTeachSource
    • PD In Focus
    • PD Online
    • Streaming Video
  • Help

    ASCD Customer Service

    Phone
    Monday through Friday
    8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

    1-800-933-ASCD (2723)

    Address
    1703 North Beauregard St.
    Alexandria, VA 22311-1714

    Complete Customer Service Details

  • Log In
ASCD Header Logo
Click to Search
  • Popular Topics
    • Building Racial Justice and Equity
    • Curriculum Design and Lesson Planning
    • Differentiated Instruction
    • Distance Learning
    • Instructional Leadership
    • School Climate and Culture
    • Social-Emotional Learning
    • Understanding by Design
    • Browse All Topics
  • Books & More
    • Browse Books
    • New Books
    • Member Books
    • Quick Reference Guides
    • ASCD Express
    • Newsletters
    • Write for ASCD
    • ASCD Books in Translation
    • White Papers
    • Streaming Videos
    • PD Online Courses
    • PD In Focus
  • Educational Leadership
    • Current Issue
    • Browse EL Archives
    • Digital EL
    • EL Podcast
    • Upcoming Themes
    • Write for EL
    • EL's Tell Us About
  • Membership
    • Benefits
    • Team Memberships
    • Member-Only Webinars
    • Affiliates & More
  • Virtual Events
    • Webinars
    • Symposiums
    • Leadership Summit
    • PreK and K Conference
    • Annual Conference
    • Exhibit with Us
  • Professional Learning
    • On-Site & Virtual PD
    • ASCD Faculty
    • ASCD Staff Speakers
    • ASCD Activate
    • ASCD Regional Partners
    • PD Success Stories
    • PD Request Form
  • Main
  • Current Issue
  • Archives
  • Upcoming Themes
  • Write for EU
  • Contact
  • Buy
  • Subscribe
Buy this issue
 Share |
You must be an ASCD member or subscriber to view this content.

To view this article,
  • Log in.
  • Become an ASCD member.
  • Read Abstract

July 2015 | Volume 57 | Number 7

Issue Table of Contents | Read Article Abstract

Road Tested / What Our Classroom Walls Communicate

Barry Saide

To create a classroom where students feel that they belong and that their work is significant, consider the underlying message you send when students first enter the room and look at the walls.

If your room reflects the students in it, should there really be any premade, teacher-store posters on the walls? You know, the ones we take out of the storage box, dust off, and put up in the same spot each year? I don't know about you, but I've never had a student turn to me after reading the poster about missing 100 percent of the shots they didn't take and say, "I needed to read that. I believe and trust in you now. I will now do my best work."

What we do know from education research is that students will do their best work where they feel most comfortable. Many times that's at home, in their room, where they have a say in the decorations and floor plan. Why can't we give students that opportunity in their classrooms? If they spend more time in school for nine and a half months than they do anywhere else, shouldn't the environment put students in the best possible position to succeed?

I wrestled with many of these questions early in my teaching career, as I unpacked my motivational slogan posters and put them in the same spots each fall. What finally changed my mind-set was when some former students came to visit, and said, "The room looks exactly the same as it did when we were in here!" The message I inferred from their comment was, "You haven't changed. You haven't grown." As an educator who prided myself on risk taking, I was embarrassed that students who hadn't been in my room in years remembered exactly what it looked like.

You know what else looks the same each year? Prisons. I didn't want my students to feel that they were trapped in the room each day. How could I have missed that the room needed to reflect growth and change, too?

In the past 14 years, I've learned the importance of trusting students by releasing responsibility for their learning to them as often as possible. That includes involving them in room setup. Now, prior to the beginning of each school year, I hang posters on the walls with questions on them, but nothing else. Examples include "What does independent reading look and sound like?," "What are role models?," and "What are our classroom rules?" When the year begins, we spend time each day discussing these questions, and students take turns adding their responses on sticky notes.

Over time, we create additional posters that anchor how we approach learning (and one another): first we brainstorm and categorize ideas, and then we debate how to word them positively. Instead of stating, "We will not talk or misbehave on the rug," students state, "We will pay attention to the speaker and focus on the task at hand." By the time we get into different academic content areas, students have already learned how to share their thoughts and ideas, disagree respectfully, collaborate with their peers, and compromise during whole-class and small-group discussions about the academic and social environment.

They've also created something together that's theirs. They own it—and what's more powerful than that?

When setting up your classroom, keep in mind who the classroom is really for and whether the environment engages your students. This approach begins with student-made anchor charts hanging on the wall—even if they simply provide a reminder of the quiet signal or bathroom rules.


Would you like to write for the next "Road Tested" column? Visit www.ascd.org/educationupdate for submission details.


Barry Saide is a 5th grade teacher at Mount Prospect Elementary School in Basking Ridge, N.J., and an ASCD emerging leader.

KEYWORDS

Click on keywords to see similar products:
student engagement and motivation, classroom management

Copyright © 2015 by ASCD

Requesting Permission

  • For photocopy, electronic and online access, and republication requests, go to the Copyright Clearance Center. Enter the periodical title within the "Get Permission" search field.
  • To translate this article, contact permissions@ascd.org
ASCD Express

Ideas from the Field

Subscribe to ASCD Express, our free email newsletter, to have practical, actionable strategies and information delivered to your email inbox twice a month.

Subscribe Now

Permissions

ASCD respects intellectual property rights and adheres to the laws governing them. Learn more about our permissions policy and submit your request online.

  • Policies and Requests
  • Electronic File Requests for Students with Print Disabilities
  • Translations Rights
  • Books in Translation

  • ASCD on Facebook (External Link)
  • ASCD on Twitter (External Link)
  • ASCD on Pinterest (External Link)
  • ASCD on Instagram (External Link)
  • ASCD on LinkedIn (External Link)
  • ASCD on Youtube (External Link)

About ASCD

  • About Us
  • Contact Us / Help
  • Governance
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • News & Media
  • Government Relations
  • Whole Child

Get Involved

  • Membership
  • Educator Advocates
  • Affiliates
  • Emerging Leaders
  • Connected Communities
  • Student Chapters
  • Professional Interest Communities

Partner with Us

  • Partners
  • ASCD Job Ramp
  • Advertisers
  • Sponsors & Exhibitors
  • Distributors
ASCD Logo

1703 North Beauregard St.
Alexandria, VA 22311-1714

MISSION: ASCD empowers educators to achieve excellence in learning, teaching, and leading so that every child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

© 2021 ASCD. All Rights Reserved.