Pictures Worth More Than 1,000 Words: Online Classroom Displays
By Suzie Boss
4/10/08
If your classroom is like most, you probably use every square inch of available space. I love to step into learning spaces that feel like museums of living history. Ceilings, walls, and tables are covered with artifacts showing evidence of student understanding. Many teachers put up exhibits to reinforce everything from the big ideas of a discipline to classroom-management strategies. But how often do you step back and take a thoughtful look at what's on display?
Linda Hartley is an educator from the United Kingdom (a native of Scotland now living in London) who used that question as the starting point for an action research project. A former teaching assistant, she began conducting research as part of her studies at the United Kingdom's virtual-learning Ultraversity. By bringing Web 2.0 tools into project design, she has set off a global conversation.
This work is manifested on her site, Classroom Displays, which is both a Flickr group for photo sharing and a blog for reflection. (The Classroom Displays blog was nominated for an Edublogs Award in 2006.) The result is what Hartley calls "a visual conversation" about those ephemeral displays that come and go from classroom walls and school hallways. Some 270 educators from around the world have joined the Classroom Displays community, and many more regularly stop in for a look.
If you want to find an example close to home, you can click on the Flickr map. From Hannibal, Missouri, for example, Terry Smith's photos reveal a classroom where students regularly take on global projects with learning partners from around the world. (To learn more about Smith's project-based class, visit his Web site.) A teacher from the Bronx shares a picture showing what looks like an army of cockroaches; the caption reveals that the bugs are plastic. (Whew!) Students lined them up as math manipulatives to show their understanding of arrays.
Click on Kuwait, and you get a glimpse inside an international school where a husband-and-wife team from the United Kingdom are teaching. Photos typically include a link to the educator's profile on Flickr, which you can follow to learn more or make connections.
Though the colorful photos are what initially attract visitors, Hartley acknowledges a goal that goes beyond browsing: She wants to get more educators -- especially those teaching in the early grades -- using Web 2.0 tools with their students. But she recognizes that they first need to get more comfortable using these tools themselves. As an entry point, what could be more familiar and low tech than bulletin boards
Hartley tells more of this story in her blog Reinventing Project-Based Learning. But here's the short version, in her words: "I'd seen the power of blogs and wikis for my own learning during the course of my degree, and I was convinced they were going to be really important for children's learning. It seemed to me that if I could show primary school staff the value of these tools for their own practice, it would be easier for them to see the potential power of these tools for the children's learning."
To hear Hartley tell more about her strategies, listen to this podcast interview with Scottish educator David Booruch.
What do Classroom Displays users learn in the course of talking about bulletin boards and hall displays? Most of the more than 1,500 images are tagged, so users learn the value of folksonomies for making sense of large collections. On the blog side, there's an ongoing exchange of ideas across geographic boundaries. Educators who are new to blogging can easily join by commenting. Hartley says that one of the most encouraging signs is watching a community of interest "actually becoming a community of practice."
The newest addition to Classroom Displays: videos. This means teachers can now have students describe what the displays represent and what they learned by producing them. Video displays also have the potential to encourage good questioning techniques for getting at student understanding. Teachers who have never made a podcast or video with their students might be prompted to give it a whirl as a strategy for capturing student reflection -- and that means the conversation grows and grows.
A Classroom Displays postscript: On a recent trip to London, I had the pleasure of meeting Linda Hartley in person. Over lunch at the gloriously appointed café of the Victoria and Albert Museum, we chatted away like a couple of old pals. After all, I've been following her good thinking online for some time, so we were just picking up where we'd left off. As we compared impressions about where education is heading on both sides of the Atlantic, I couldn't help hoping that these rich global conversations will become more and more commonplace for teachers and students alike.
Comments & Responses
Students' pride
To display students' work on a nicely decorated bulletin board is indirectly telling the students that you care about their efforts. When they see their project displayed in a different light, they are proud of their work and this also encourages them to work harder and be motivated to learn. Most kids like to shine through. Students who are less talkative or shy have this opportunity to display their talent through their work. It is a conversation starter, an opportunity for other kids to compliment or comment about each other's work.
To share the bulletin board online for other teachers to view is very fruitful. In my first years of teaching, I relied heavily on websites with bulletin board displays to get ideas for classroom decoration. I didn't just want pictures but interactive bulletin boards. The ideas from other teachers helped me immensely.
2nd Grade Teacher
St. Paul, MN
Classroom Displays
I really enjoyed this blog. This is my first time participating and I found myself spending much time looking at the examples of classroom bulletin boards. I can see myself sharing this website and blog with fellow co-workers and I am sure they would find it beneficial. What is great about this website is that it incorporates a wide range of grade levels and classrooms from all around the world. I am one of those teachers that fills up every inch of her walls. What is sad, is that I rarely refer to the posters that are hanging as a reference. After reading this blog, it made me realize that I need to make sure that these posters are not just for decoration. I also see a great importance in displaying student work. Like many of the others that have responded, the student takes much pride in their work, especially when they know that it is going to be hung up for others to see. Many times, what students create is a culminating activity that will show others what they have learned from the unit. This also allows me to assess their understanding through artistic or crafty activities.
Successful communication is
Successful communication is the key to any well ran classroom! I can't think of a better way of communicating than student work being displayed. Student's work offer an inside view of what all is taking place in the room. It tells people what is being taught and what is being learned. Student's work can be beautiful displays in the classroom and it is something the student's can be proud of.
Displaying Students' Work
I really enjoyed reading this article. I teach Kindergarten, so displaying my students' work is very important. I do feel that is raises their self-esteem and makes them feel important when they see that I have taken the time to acknowledge and display their hard work!
Picture worth a thousand words
Pictures are worth a thousand words! I love decorating and displaying students work in my classroom. We are also required to keep current work up. These sites gave me new and creative ideas for bulletin boards and displaying work. Also, it was intersting to see what international classrooms are like.
I think displaying students
I think displaying students works of art is so important. When I tell my students that their work will be displayed, they work even harder knowing that others will see it. I feel like I do use every inch of space in order to display their work and posting them online would be great.
Classroom Displays
When students' work is displayed on the walls or in the hall they feel proud of what they have accomplished. All work should be done to the best of their ability but I always get the question, "Ms. Wilkes is this going in the hall for everyone to see?" If I tell them it is then I see them work that much harder. They want people to see how great of a job that they can do. I have also come to realize that it is important to change bulletin boards and switch out the work that you are displaying so that you can incorporate it with the material you are teaching students. It takes more time for the teacher, but I feel it is of great use for the students.
Wall of Fame
I think it's important to display student work. As others have mentioned, it gives the students something to be proud of and it gives them the recognition they deserve for their hard work. I have a "Wall of Fame" in my classroom. On Fridays my students go through all of the work they completed during the week and they get to choose what they are most proud of. Their work goes up under thier name and stays there the whole next week. They really look forward to doing this - and are constantly asking on Fridays when will we do Wall of Fame?
Displaying student's classwork
I worked in a school where it was not permitted to display the student's work in the hallway. The fire inspector said it was a fire hazard. This made the school environment a very cold and sterile one. One time a year, during "Open House", we were permitted to show one piece of work per student in the hall. The school looked wonderful. The students were so proud of their work. Each time they passed their work, they pointed it out to a friend or another teacher. I think just the simple act of displaying student's work sets the mood of the school as well as the students. It gives off a warm, inviting feeling that should be felt everyday.
Classroom Displays
As a Pre-K teacher in the state of Georgia, I am required to have students' work samples displayed all around the classroom. My students are proud of the work they put up and regularly comment on the wonderful work of their classmates. Most students write their name on their work, and some even put the date. We just finished our last week, and as I was taking all the student displays down, many students asked me what I was doing. I explained about our year ending and getting the room ready for a new group of students. When all the work was off the walls, the room looked dull and unattractive. Classroom displays say much about the personalities of the students.
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