ARTICLE: How Blank Walls Built Community
By choosing not to decorate all the walls at the start of school, this 7th grade team left room for students to create a learning space of their own.
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How Blank Walls Built Community in 7th Grade
By Katie Durkin
Decorating my classroom has always been my forte. I loved going each summer to teacher supply stores, scouring the aisles for the best and brightest borders, bulletin board sets and posters.
However, this year I took on a new leadership position that would necessitate that I not only decorate my classroom, but also take care of a shared space for my new team of colleagues (my school calls a team a “pod”). This pod is a hallway that ends in a large rectangular space that houses all six academic teachers per team.
I had previously been a member of the team I was going to lead so I was familiar with this pod. It hadn’t been updated in many years, so late last summer I took this opportunity to create a blank slate, which I planned to fill using what I believed to be my expert decorating skills.
I started by creating blank canvases on walls all over the pod, in preparation for my decorating extravaganza. And then something clicked. I recalled the many books and articles I’ve been reading over the past couple of years, suggesting that we begin each school year with blank walls.
I’d been unwilling to try this in the past, but because of my new position as a leader of my team, I knew that I wanted to find ways to build community through creating a shared space in which to showcase and celebrate students.
So I decided this year would be the year I learned to embrace blank walls, and I’m so glad I did. Let me share four ideas that might help other teachers who have been hesitant to go the “begin with a blank slate” route. Try some of this out in your own space as we end this school year and begin to think about the next.