My blank walls are taunting me. Every year I stress over how to utilize the visual space in my room. I so admire my colleagues who can bust out these designer-quality bulletin boards. My teacher talents are more linear. Speaking, writing... basically anything involving grammar. Decorating the room is, for me, mentally taxing, not to mention laborious and time-consuming. It usually eats up the remainder of each workday during staff week, because I want to get the room ready before Open House. Any actual preparing to see students gets pushed to the three-day weekend.
Not this year! As I stare at those drab cinderblocks puzzling over how to reclaim my time, inspiration strikes. Why don't I just let the kids do it? Yes! They can create pieces to display during therapy. I've figured out wall decor and I have a jump on planning for the first week.
As a total coincidence (or cosmic confirmation of my eureka moment), this article shows up in my feed in a matter of hours: 4 Ways to Create a Learner-Centered Classroom. Number two, "Design the Space Together," includes this revelation:
"The process of co-creating the space is an important aspect of building community. Not only do students immediately have ownership in their classroom and learn so many amazing skills in the process, think of all the time that is saved when you don’ t have to do it all yourself!"
The rest of the article lays out some other handy ideas for starting the year right; it's worth a read. There are heaps of benefits to sharing the load with your students. You can accomplish so much more when you're not doing all the work yourself.
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