Let your walls talk to your learners!
Many classrooms leave much to be desired. Naked walls, where some have graffiti from the learners, filth messed on floors, chalkboards full of chalk powder and wooden cabinets heavy laden with dust. Old documents and scrap books sprawled on the teacher’s table, and everything that you can think of that injects you with the energy that simply says: “Keep as far out of this classroom as you possibly can”.
This article can also be read in Sotho.
You arrive at the doctor’s surgery, sick as a puppy, half wishing you were already dead just to let the aching stop or at least subside. Has it ever occurred to you that the easing of the pain that you feel even before the doctor sees you, might be because of the atmosphere reigning in that waiting room?
The atmosphere that says to your body and mind: “ you have arrived at the right place, you are already healed”. The smell of antibiotics, charts displaying medicine and the anatomy of body parts, cotton balls, syringes & needles – all assuring you of the competency of this practitioner who is about to take care of you. Well …
Invigilating during the past term assessment period brought all these thoughts and comparisons to me.
At the school where I am teaching, learners do not write in the same venue for all their exams. The exam invigilation, is structured in such a way that learners get to write in different classrooms everyday. The motive behind this seating plan is to dissuade learners from copying, either from their own notes or notes on desks. This then also affects us as invigilators. As a teacher, you remain in a colleague’s classroom for two to three hours while invigilating – what an experience!
What I found out in most of the classrooms I invigilated in, left much to be desired. Naked walls, where some have graffiti from the learners, filth messed on floors, chalkboards full of chalk powder and wooden cabinets heavy laden with dust. Old documents and scrap books sprawled on the teacher’s table, and everything that you can think of that injects you with the energy that simply says: “Keep as far out of this classroom as you possibly can”.
That implicit feeling that awkwardly comes to me, coerced me into wearing the shoes of the people that these classes are made for – the poor learners. I asked myself how on earth these poor souls are inspired to learn if these classrooms in their present state happen to be the environment that they have to sit in everyday they come to school? So many questions surged through my brain and the more I dug into my inner learning spirit, the more it dawned on me that the basic things that used to make learners enjoy learning are no more taken into cognisance. I thought of the old class visit forms with which teachers were evaluated with (ET/481), the present tool used for base-line assessment IQMS (performance standard 1) in which all deal with the classroom climate. I came to the conclusion, that yes, it is of the essence that we go back to the basics. I asked myself what happened to that notion of letting the walls talk to you as you entered the learning and teaching environment?
In the past it wasn’t even necessary to guess what subject a teacher was offering, when one entered into his or her working field. The walls full of charts, quotations, models and live plants all synergized to create a serene classroom climate that sharpened hunger for learning. This climate had an element of placebo in it, and it still does I hope many of us feel that. I believe it is after all, not the recipe or the cooking skill of the chef that prepares you to devour whatever meal you’re about to eat when entering a restaurant, but rather the setting of the place – the surroundings and the aroma that welcome you. The food taste only confirms what you had already anticipated. In Afrikaans they say: “hongerte is die beste kok”. It is our obligation as teachers, to make those learners in our classes hungry for learning, and how we go about in working on that hunger is definitely what will make them come back for more.
I’m just wondering; is it not possible that all pleasant/unpleasant memories engraved into our long-term memories, had a lot to do with where and how they were all disseminated to us?
This article can also be read in Sotho.
Teacher's Monthly experience
So true Lunko,
It seems that more often then not, a classroom will appear visually uninspiring and unappealing.
I went to a top notch school and can count on half a hand the teachers who had gone to an effort to make the classroom an inspiring one.
As a visually literate person and a creative, I understand the importance of using your surroundings to create an environment that is exciting and interesting.
What I found at school was that new young teachers who were in their first year or two on the job were usually the ones who went to the effort of putting up interesting posters and graphics.
I think schools should have a dept/person whose job is to ensure the interior of classrooms are the best they can be!
I couldnt have said it better…
Words and phrases like “naked walls…graffiti by students…filth on classroom floors and chalkboard with chalk powder”,symbolises and emphasizes the lowering of the moral bar in our schools and our country as a whole.The cliched phrase “charity begins at home” came to my mind while reading this article,not only should the incompetent teachers be pointed fingers at,but olso the iresponsible parents should take the “heat” too.If the duo is not working honestly together for the benefit of the confused and aimless child,(there is no hopless child)things are bound to be a mess in any way possible.
I have always found that foundation teachers’ classrooms are beautifully covered with children’s work and relevant pictures. However as the children get older, the teachers seem to think they no longer need to make their classrooms attractive. This is particularly so in high schools.
Hi Marina, that’s exactly what I have observed. At high schools, it’s seldom you get such in class and I always thought I’m hanging on on foundation phase tactics, but as I sat hours facing those walls, I realized adult as I am, I still need something to inspire me visually. Hope we all realize it’s still necessary even if they look like grown-ups( learners). Thank you for your input hey
How about Teacher’s Monthly and EvaluNet create posters for classroom walls and sell them for R5 – R10 each. We’re talking big, A1 size posters – colourful, exciting and encouraging creativity and positive thinking. Would teachers buy those?
And if so, what would you like to see on the posters?
Adrian I think it’s not a question of them not knowing what posters to hoist, but like Marina says, they most think it’s not necessary to do it, now that the learners are much older. It’s all about what should be learnt and no more about how that learning can be enhanced, or achieved. It’s the same to giving them feedback, all those glittery stars, faces and colourful tags on the projects of learners indicating how they faired die off, as soon as they are at high school and laugh if you want, I still use them with grade12′s, even educators & HODs as I give them feedback on maybe, registers submitted or monitoring of activities. In my heart I know they must be laughing at me, but to me inspiration is needed, young or old.
Hi Adrian, yes i would be interested if this would really happen!
What i would like to see on the posters…Afrikaans language posters that i would really appreciated, since it’s not that easy to find for me.
Great idea Adrian! Maybe teachers don’t have the time or money to spend on making their classrooms rock. Gives me an idea for the heading on T.M: “Rock Your Classroom” – downloadable posters to make your classroom really rock>
Mike, personally I’m interested, for I’m energised by beauty, colour and inspirational text. For now I have posters on anatomy & physiology, biotechnology (DNA & Cloning, and some on HIV?AIDS info- catooned.) and some valuable quotes. I can never get enough of material to paste on walls, I even do learner performance bar graphs with colourful bars pasted on white background. So Mike you and Adrian, do make such for I’m personally interested in them, and using me as an example can maybe trickle down on other colleagues. As long as it’s for learners I am willing to try everything.
Yes! We’ve got a taker!
The team at EvaluNet have already started throwing around some great ideas about how we can put inspiration on YOUR walls!
Hi Lunko, I completely agree with you! Not only has it psychologically been shown what a great role one’s environment plays in learning (in the whole nature vs nurture debate), but I have also experienced it first hand in my own classroom at school. When I started I hardly had anything to put on the walls, but I have slowly started collecting posters, pictures, quotes etc. and each time I add something new it is so interesting to see what children notice it first. I recently added a world map that have all the different countries’ flags at the bottom and I was amazed to see one Gr.11 boy who is usually not very interested in schoolwork being completely taken in by this poster! So encouraging!
Yes Nadia…I believe we are differently stimulated as individuals. Some need audio stimulation, some visual and some both audio & visual, which is why as a vigilant teacher one needs to cater for all and even in our lesson presentation they all need to be incooperated. I believe the classroom environmet sort of touches stimulation in totality. Imagine if in your class you unknowingly have 75% of learners who need that climatic stimulation and you unintentionally do not work on it, then it simply means those learners stay mostly dry in that class, without any moisture to assimilate what you want them to learn. The more we debate on this, the more I realize just how important it is. Thanx for that experience shared.
I visited a top school in Cape Town. The grounds are beautiful, a new pavilion has just been built. The surrounds are landscaped. But inside, in the classrooms, it looks like a third rate, neglected school. The classrooms are uninspiring and untidy!
The teachers could put up posters, pupils artwork or even a few lists of the vocabulary lists pertaining to their subject. I am a junior school teacher and try to keep my walls interesting and relevant to the topics taught during a term.
You see Averil, the fact that this school can afford anything & yet the classes look like that, really tells you people do not see the need for classes to be stimulating. It’s sad because in our houses, the lounge is decorated with staff that says: “come & relax.” the bedroom with “come & sleep peacefully.” Why then, can’t the classrooms say “come & learn?” Amazing, really amazing.
I visited a top school in Cape Town. The grounds are beautiful, a new pavilion has just been built. The surrounds are landscaped. But inside, in the classrooms, it looks like a third rate, neglected school. The classrooms are uninspiring and untidy!
The teachers could put up posters, pupils artwork or even a few lists of the vocabulary pertaining to their subject. I am a junior school teacher and try to keep my walls interesting and relevant to the topics taught during a term.
As I’ve read the article and some of the comments above i agree with it. Most of the classes that i saw didn’t have posters on the walls. Only my Grade 1 class that i could remember and a few other classes, but it remained the same term after term.
When i became a teacher at a township school, which had a lot of challenges i might say, i decided to make my classroom interesting, I’ve made posters myself from the content that i teach. This also helps the learners to be more interested in the lessons.
It does take a long time to make, but it makes your class more interesting and creates a better atmosphere than a class that has empty walls.
In the beginning i was quit devastated when they broke in one time during the term and messed around in my class and torn the stuff from my walls, i was angry at the time. But luckily so far it didn’t happened again!
It’s actually a pity that there aren’t a lot of commercial posters around. Mostly are for Foundation phase classes. I would really like to see the “Rock Your Classroom” resources that we mentioned in the monthly e-mail…i’m looking forward to that.
Maybe i still hold on the my own little philosophy of a classroom that has intersting posters displayed of hildren’s work etc.
Hi Leanie
Thanx for the response, and you shouldn’t “maybe” hold on to your “little” philosophy of a classroom that has interesting posters, but actually MUST. That philosophy is not little but very fundamental, which is why in my article I have moved away from the concept itself, but created several scenarios of the effect the sense of sight has on the person in totality… We should never have left the basics in the 1st place, I for one, never did, and thanks for having been exposed to township schools which are vandalised more than often.
That’s an environment I have been exposed to all my life of teaching, and colleagues will even label you for it and make mockery out of it. Whatever you do, never stop doing it. Those fresh flowers that you will find one morning sprawled on the floor, keep reviving it. That small cloth you’ll find be written on or torn, keep throwing it on that table. Those red hearts you put on V-day, keep them on those walls even if you’ll find them on the floor one day.
Never get deflated for I can assure you it’s that caring of their environment that will even show them how much you care about them. That class is even the best organised home for most of those learners if you can find time to peep into their real homes. Township schools are so challenged that not only your lesson delivery will put those learners through. Those walls are your best weapon. I once taught Afrikaans 2de taal for grade 12′s and I would even make big posters of “Lees tekens” en “naamwoorde” Pictures of Luisterswaeltjies as een van gedigte, potrete van digters…man enige ding, for as long as that class has life in it. Thanks a lot for your interest and you just inspired me for the next article, esp the township schools.