Prior to a school year beginning, teachers are preparing their classrooms so that they are inviting, safe, and conducive to learning. It is important that whenever the students arrive for the first day of school the classroom is motivating. It is also important that each learning activity be free of as little distraction as possible.
When preparing the classroom, teachers can spend a great deal of money on bulletin boards, visuals, and supplies that may be needed and which are not covered by the school budget. They want to create a classroom that not only promotes a good place for learning but also provides one that stimulates thinking. In order to meet those goals, teachers use strategies to insure the classroom is one that invites the students to work, study, and contribute during discussions.
Create Bulletin Boards That Have no Cost
Every classroom has bulletin boards that are used for displaying information, student accomplishments, and announcements about what is happening in class. Teachers have a variety of resources available to them that they can buy at various teacher resource stores. However, in order to spend less money, teachers can save by using items that may be from the students of a past year, things that may be at home, and free items that can be donated from stores in the local community (use wall paper samples to be the background on the bulletin boards).
Student work can be used to welcome the new students entering on the first day. Consider saving past student art work, possibly written work such as poems or letters that greet the new students telling them about what they will be learning, or photos that the teacher may have taken during the past school year. By completing a bulletin board that utilizes items from the past year, a teacher spends no money. It is important, that when using a student's work, the teacher ask that student for permission and make sure the student knows that the work will be used on a bulletin board display. In almost every case, the student will gladly volunteer his work and will also feel proud that this will be used to greet new students.
Keep the Classroom Motivating not Distracting
Teachers must address distractions in the classroom. Many times the amount of objects in the room or too many displays on the walls can cause students to focus on other things rather than the teacher's lesson. When creating a classroom with visuals, teachers should look at the room and decide whether the visuals add to learning or distract from learning. A teacher should also examine whether there are too many desks, tables, materials, shelves, projects hanging from the ceilings, and furniture that is creating a maze like environment. There should be an easy flow from the entrance to where the students sit. The students should also feel a sense of comfort rather than crowded.
The design of the classroom can decide whether it is distraction free. The design should be functional and should match what the teacher may be teaching. If the teacher wants a classroom environment to motivate active student participation, then the desks should be arranged so that students can see each other and the teacher. When the lesson involves the need to pay close attention to the teacher, then the design should lend itself to promoting student focus on the teacher. By linking the teacher's style of teaching to the setting, student attention can be improved.
The classroom is a very important place whenever it comes to promoting student learning. In many cases, the classroom becomes the home away from home for a great deal of time in a student's lifetime. Teachers who prepare their rooms as inviting and motivating will see many benefits. The positive results of preparing rooms with visuals linked with learning and seating matched with easier learning will be endless.
Donna Hupe - I am a retired teacher with 31 years of experience including teaching in a private school for special needs children, directing and ...
