Along with every other aspect of education, how to decorate your classroom is a matter of debate. Some say learning spaces should be kept bare so that students can concentrate on learning rather than the Gandhi quote dangling from the ceiling. Others go for rooms that look like the end result of a death match between a dictionary and a rainbow.
The best classroom I have ever been in was a bright, spacious science lab which had huge 3D displays – including a human digestive system with moving parts. It felt like a place where you couldn’t help but learn. One of the worst was my own room in the same school. It was cramped and permanently hot with aerated block walls covered in posters that would never stay up, despite my experiments with every type of adhesive known to the pound shop.
Praise be to the pound shop – a trove of cheap pens, Post-its, stickers, glue and the rest. The real pro skills, however, are in repurposing the random items they stock – a foil baking tray can easily become a snazzy homework in-tray, for example. But how else can you make your classroom pleasant and purposeful without breaking the bank?
Put the writing on the wall (or get students to)
Posters displaying school rules are a staple the world over, but they don’t have to be boring – try getting your students to make them. This will save you time and encourage them to engage with the rules. It’s helpful to be visual about noise levels, too. One of my colleagues had a poster next to the whiteboard displaying three levels: silent work, partner talk, or group work. She would simply move a bright Post-it note to the relevant area for the task at hand and refer to it as needed.
To quote or not to quote, that is the question
Motivational gems or cringeworthy rubbish? Your call. The summer before I started teaching, I spent a laughable amount of time picking quotes for my walls and, as yet, no students have been in touch to say that my lesser-known Gloria Steinem zinger changed their lives. Then again, I still remember a Mark Twain quote that I loved from my sixth-form English room and I never told my teacher (until now – thanks Mr Machin).
A word of warning: Nelson Mandela’s classic about perseverance (“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again”) is more ubiquitous these days than the Kardashians. Go for something else.
Classroom library
Every teacher is a teacher of literacy now, as you’ve no doubt had repeatedly drilled into you in continuing professional development sessions, so a mini library is an on-message addition to your room. But sticking a pile of your discarded holiday reads on the windowsill probably won’t spark a love of literature. Buy a cheap bookshelf (or find one on Freecycle) and put it somewhere prominent. You can stock it with your old books, of course, but add to it regularly – there are always dirt-cheap finds in charity shops – and get students to do the same.
Personal touches
There are also lots of programmes online (like The Rasterbator) that allow you to create your own giant poster art by uploading an image and printing it off on A4 sheets to form a collage. Because I was an English teacher and a humongous cliche, mine was a 6x6-sheet rendering of Shakespeare’s face, but I am sure you can do better than that.
‘Subject in the news’ board
I stole this idea from the science teacher I mentioned before. Whatever subject you teach, there will always be news stories that relate to it – keep an eye out and get students to hunt for them too. Then if they moan about doing descriptive writing, you can nod towards the latest story about JK Rowling’s billions.
Learning prompts
One of my mentors had an amazing way of teaching from the walls rather than the front of the class. He had topic-specific displays all over the place and would constantly direct students to them – one of my favourites was a wall of sentence starters for class discussions, battling the tendency to “errr” and “dunno”.
Home comforts
You’re going to spend a lot of time in your classroom, so it might as well be a place that you like. Try some plants – they always make everything nicer. One of my former workmates bought a lavender air freshener because she read that it would be calming for students. I scoffed, but that room always smelled great and her students were angelic (although that probably had more to do with her teaching than her plug-in). And always have tissues, wet wipes and a hand sanitiser.
It’s really not necessary to spend loads on your classroom. But if you want to splash out (or, better, can get your school to) you could consider:
Up to £10
Rubber stamps
Stationery is great. Anything that makes marking quicker is great. Stamps are doubly great (and will save you from writing the same thing 30 times in a row).
Speakers
Fiddling about with shoddy speakers can be maddening, particularly when they conk out at a critical point. Investing in a good pair means less gritted teeth.
£10 to £20
Wireless presenter
A wireless presenter is the closest thing to a magic wand that a teacher can have, letting you control your interactive whiteboard from anywhere in the room (like a wizard).
Fan
Spending a year in the world’s stuffiest room taught me the importance of ventilation. It’s hard to teach well when you’re melting.
Over £20
Visualiser
A simple camera that projects on to your screen in real time – essentially the modern version of an overhead projector, but with infinitely more possibilities and less of those acetate sheets.
Label printer
It’s at the sharp end of teacher stationery obsession, but printing your own labels is brilliant. It creates a feeling of order and control: everything has a place and every place has a label on it. Heaven.
