Setting up your walls for inquiry
I LOVE setting up my room before the year starts. I like thinking about how best to structure the room for discussions and collaboration. It’s also great when your admin allows you to use the hallway as an extension of your room and is onboard with flexible seating. I’ll definitely write later about seating options and keeping in mind learning styles but this post is about the walls. I’m sure you have heard of the third teacher being the environment and I’ve definitely bought into that idea (although I’d say more like the 21st or 31st teacher because the students are all teachers too really….)
So it is always funny each year when parents come in before the year starts for the meet the teacher, that inevitably I will get the comment that the room looks so empty. I like to make the space inviting, but yes a bit blank. I have sections that are suggestions of where things may go next(or have been mandated depending on the school) but it is pretty plain. This is because of two main reasons:
My school required certain labeled areas on the wall- but still I kept it as open to student interpretation as possible.
This isn’t just my room- this will become “our room” as my students arrive and make it their own.
Meaningful display- what goes on the wall must have value and meaning for the students. I can print cute sayings and motivational posters and cover every inch but what value does that actually add? When the children look at the wall I want it to have their previous learning or tools to help them move forward.
I’m changing it up here on you and starting with reason two first. What is displayed in my room usually has the students thinking before we even start the unit. BUT I will need a space to keep this thinking recorded- which is why I have a blank wall. We come together and they start brainstorming what they think or already know about the unit we are about to embark on. This is fantastic because it will later become an awesome little reminder of how far we have come BUT also is a great piece of data for me of what I should or should not cover and where interests may lie. So I’ve now found a way to put up something meaningful in my room and ALSO started collecting data and a little assessment under my belt.
Empty room but full brains….discussion at the beginning of the year and the unit- the space will become their own.
Continuing on the meaning- I also like to have a place where we can record some of the mistakes and misconceptions we have encountered on the way. There is a motivational poster in this corner reminding us that mistakes are how we are growing and the students LOVE it when my mistakes are added there too. AND this happens often as I am always learning each year on my subjects, my cultural awareness, and my practice.
I also like to try to show off our unit after we have finished it with the rest of the school. This bulletin board is done completely by the students and they select how they will show the school our entire inquiry process. It’s not perfect as far as a perfectionist adult may see it- but it is perfect in the way that it is completely owned by the students and highlights their interpretation of what was the main or best learning that had occurred.
NOW to finish with reason one. Saving the best for last. It’s not just my classroom. The goal is to start out by building a class culture. I want to see who is in my room and feel out the personalities coming in. Often there are MANY artists in the room and many creative thinkers and I would hate to rob them of developing our space. The only space I have really up and created is a wall of birthdays and labeled storage boxes. They come in and see their names there and know this space belongs to them. It isn’t decorated yet because that is part of their job when they move into this new space.
One extra fun bit I wanted to add is I love to make a copy of any book we read and post its cover-up in the room. This is especially fun in the younger years when students make connections to what we have read earlier in the year or when they are referring back to a story during play or another lesson. While this one isn’t completely student-directed it does tie us together from the shared experience of the book and helps with discussions comparing literature. Usually, in early years, our goal is to make it all the way around the room with read-alouds posted.
If you look towards the top of the walls you can see our big list of books we read for the year.
So while your room may seem more empty than others on the first day of school- the payoff of making it belong to the entire class is worth a little explaining upfront. The third teacher will be clear to anyone who comes into your room later in the year and the students will know they belong in this space and the space belongs to them.
