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What you put on your classroom walls can affect your students' ability to learn.

The walls in Kenita Sutherland's classroom are lively but not overwhelming.

Heavily decorated classrooms can bombard students with too much visual information, interfering with their memory and ability to focus, a new study finds.

This is just the latest study to examine the relationship between classroom environment and students' executive functions, which include skills like memory, attention, and self-regulation. While teachers have good intentions when decorating, many classrooms end up being "sensory-rich" in a way that "could hamper children's learning gains rather than help," according to psychologists Pedro Rodrigues and Josefa Pandeirada, who coauthored the study.

To understand how decorations affect learning, Rodrigues and Pandeirada recruited 64 children between 8 and 12 years old to perform attention and memory tasks in two groups. For the high-decoration group, the walls of the room were covered with numerous pictures of ordinary objects and scenes, such as cars, musical instruments, and trees. Walls in the control group's room, on the other hand, were bare.
© Kendra Caralis
The children performed a series of tasks designed to test their attention and memory. In one attention test, for example, they observed a laptop screen, pressing a button if an X appeared and doing nothing if a K appeared. In a memory test reminiscent of the electronic game Simon Says, the children observed nine blue squares that changed to yellow in varying sequences, which the children attempted to repeat. A total of four tests were given-two for memory and two for attention.

Compared to children in the bare-wall room, children in the high-decoration room performed worse on all tests, which suggests that too much visual stimulus can be a distraction.

"Overall, the results from these studies indicate that children could have difficulty in ignoring visual distractors when these are embedded in the surrounding environment," the study authors explain.

Classrooms Should Be Engaging, Not Distracting

That's not to say that every wall must be bare. In 2015, a team of researchers in the U.K. analyzed 153 classrooms and found that students benefited most when the walls had some decorations. "The displays on the walls should be designed to provide a lively sense to the classroom, but without becoming chaotic in feel. As a rule of thumb, 20 to 50 percent of the available wall space should be kept clear," the researchers wrote.

Display student work. Students not only feel a greater sense of responsibility for their learning but are also more likely to remember the material (Barrett et al., 2015).

Feature inspiring role models. Putting up images-and short stories or quotes-featuring heroes and leaders can help students gain a greater sense of belonging and aspiration, especially when their backgrounds and interests are represented. Strive for inclusion, but avoid token or stereotypical representations-they can be damaging to students' self-esteem (Cheryan et al., 2014).

Avoid clutter. Keep at least 20 percent of your wall space clear, and leave ample space between displays so they don't look disorganized. Resist the temptation to keep adding decorations-it's better to swap them out than to keep adding more (Barrett et al., 2015).

Visual aids-like anchor charts, maps, and diagrams-are OK. Posters that reinforce a lesson, rather than distract from it, can boost student learning. But don't forget to take down ones that are no longer helpful (Carney & Levin, 2002; Bui & McDaniel, 2015).

Avoid displays of student scores or grades. Many teachers use data walls to motivate students, and while they can work for high performers, they can backfire for struggling students, leading to feelings of shame and demoralization (Marsh et al., 2014).

Let in natural light. Don't cover up your windows with decorations unless you have a problem with glare or outside distractions. Students who are exposed to more natural light in their classrooms outperform peers who get less natural light in math and reading (Cheryan et al., 2014). If you don't have windows, making sure the room is well lit can boost achievement (Barrett et al., 2015).

Balance wall colors. You don't have to stick with four white walls-try having a single feature wall painted a bright color, with the rest being muted (Barrett et al., 2015).

So what do researchers say teachers should do?

Developing Brains

While decorating walls is a favorite pastime for many teachers, young children may not respond as teachers hope.
Courtesy of Amy Mileham
"Our findings could be related to the fact that children's cognitive capacities are still under development, including executive functions responsible for the filtering of irrelevant information for a given task," explain the study authors. A teacher may have little difficulty ignoring a wall full of decorations, but young students may find themselves unable to look away and focus on a lesson.

Children aren't born with fully developed executive functions-they have to develop these skills over time, according to Harvard's Center on the Developing Child. Children who have adverse experiences-such as neglect, abuse, or violence-or learning disabilities are at greater risk of impaired attention and self-regulation skills. So classroom distractions may be harming the students who need the most help.

The Third Teacher
© Nichole Murray
This study is the latest in an emerging field looking at classrooms as the third teacher-after parents and the teacher-which views the environment as essential to supporting learning. The idea is hardly new; approaches such as Reggio Emilia and Montessori put it at the forefront of pedagogy, giving classrooms a prominent role in shaping how students learn. Recent studies have shown evidence for the role that classrooms play in learning: A 2014 study, for example, found that young students spent more time off-task when classroom walls were highly decorated, while research on flexible classrooms shows that optimizing physical characteristics of classrooms such as light, color, and seating options can improve academic performance by as much as 16 percent.

The takeaway: Classroom walls should feel warm and lively but not overcrowded-keep 20 to 50 percent of the wall space clear, and fill the rest with student work, inspiring pictures, and learning aids.

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What you put on your classroom walls can affect your students' ability to learn.

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Sketch your current layout or the one you want. Are there any adjustments you need or want to make?

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When and how can students work in different places around the classroom?

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Anywhere (Everywhere?) Can Be A Workspace?

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Anywhere (Everywhere?) Can Be A Workspace?

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The rug can double as meeting space and workspace.

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...where is the front? Does it matter? What can you tell about the way the teacher uses the space?

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Permission to Start the Year with Blank Walls

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Permission to Start the Year with Blank Walls

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I'm currently working on setting up my eighth classroom in eleven years. There have been a few building moves in there, but most were just the result of shuffling around within a building. That's a whole lot of packing and set-up for any classroom, but for one with a classroom library that grows every year? Well, let's just say that I am a sweaty mess.

As I unpack and organize, I can't help but think that if I could time travel back to talk to myself as a first-year teacher, I'd give my younger self some advice. I'd approach new-teacher-me, standing excitedly in the teacher store, a cart full of bulletin board borders, cutout letters, and posters, and I'd say, "put that wallet away." Well, no, not entirely, but I'd advise myself to save some serious money.

My first year, I spent a lot of money on my classroom. A lot. I'd prefer not to think about how much money I sank into posters and bulletin board goodies. It was all in the quest to make an exciting learning environment. The empty walls looked so sterile, and I just had to do something about that. I bought parts of speech bulletin board sets, posters with snarky grammar jokes, quotes from novels in the canon, and banners about teamwork. By the time students entered my room, there was barely an inch of wall showing through any given location in my room.

Now that I've grown as a teacher, though, I make it a point to start the year with a whole lot more blank space. And that's not just because I'm sick of setting up rooms. No, I've come to learn that aside from making the room look less sterile, all of those expensive posters are really just decoration, or worse: clutter. Now I know that by starting with some blank space, I'm saving room for instruction.

When I bought those posters with snarky grammar jokes on them, I loved them. Heck, I still do. But do you know what I realized? They're only funny if you already understand the grammar rules they're trying to teach. So what's the point? To help them remember once they've learned those rules? Maybe. But wouldn't the space be better used to help teach students the rules in the first place? That brings me to the posters and the bulletin board sets that are full of tons of great knowledge: parts of speech, punctuation rules, you name it. They're so busy, students rarely even glance at them because they don't know where to begin looking for the one bit of information they might need in the moment.

So, what's a girl to do? Throw up her hands and cover the walls in pictures of funny cats from the Internet? Tempting, but no. Now I allow myself to start the year with plenty of blank space. And it's strategically where the kids can see it most easily: the front of the room, eye-level, etc. Then, once we get rolling in instruction, I start filling up that space with anchor charts. If you have an elementary background, you might be nodding your head and thinking to yourself, "duh," but if you have a secondary background, there's a good chance you're thinking, "anchor charts... you mean the posters I see on Pinterest all the time?" The answer to that is sort of. Yes, anchor charts are usually written on chart paper with markers, but if all you do is search and copy a bunch of charts from the internet, you won't be doing much better than you would have with the store-bought posters (except that you'd save some money). So, this is how I've learned to make anchor charts really work for me and my students:

Limit their scope. If you are teaching a unit and you really want students to understand parenthetical use, your anchor chart should only be about parenthetical use - not parentheses, brackets, and commas.

Make them timely. The wall should be covered with charts about what students are learning right now. If I'm in the middle of a unit on informational writing, I might have anchor charts up for introducing a quotation, recognizing text structure key words, or how to hook a reader. I'd want to take down the charts from my narrative unit on building suspense, authentic dialogue, or plot twists. At the end of a unit, if I'm not recycling a whole lot of chart paper, it's a sign to me that something is wrong. If it's too painful to just trash those charts after all your hard work, I'd recommend taking a picture first. But whatever you do, don't be tempted to laminate them and hang on until next year because it's important that you...

Co-create them with students. The anchor chart should come from the mini-lesson. If you're digging into a mentor text to look at good transition words, capture those words on a chart as you go. I've heard a lot of secondary teachers say, "but I teach six sections of the class! I can't fit that many charts!" I've had the same problem, and what I came up with was to co-create the chart on the board with each hour. I'm up-front with my kids that I'm doing the same thing in each hour, then I take a picture of the board at the end of each class and combine the content into one chart on paper at the end of the day. That way you don't have six charts all for the same concept. It's important to allow yourself the flexibility to accept that one hour might have a chart that another doesn't, though. Once you get comfortable with the concept of anchor charts, allow them to grow from your students' needs. They'll become an integral part of your mini-lessons.

Refer back to them often. The fact that we co-create them helps somewhat in getting kids to look back at them when needed, but what really cements the anchor charts' role as a tool is the way that we return to them in instruction. Rather than having students turn back to old notes, bring their attention back to the chart. It's a great visual cue. The same is true when you're working with students in small groups or individually. If I'm conferring with a student, and she says she's stuck trying to introduce her counterargument, I'm not going to repeat everything I taught in the mini-lesson the day before, I'm going to ask her to look at the chart for some reminders, then guide the conversation from there. Or, if a student finds a transition word that isn't already on the chart, I'm going to have him go up and add it.

Anchor charts are complex and nuanced, and it can take a while before you're really feeling comfortable with using them. Sometimes I hit it out of the park and my students are taking pictures of the charts with their phones, and sometimes I get to the end of a unit and wonder how I possibly could have forgotten to chart some of our biggest concepts. So even though I probably will never part with my poster of Yoda reading or of a Ray Bradbury quote about burning books, I now gladly give myself permission to start the school year with plenty of blank wall space. I know that once my students start learning, we will have no trouble filling it together.

How does your room look when you start the year? What space do you save for instruction? Have tips for using anchor charts in secondary classrooms? Share in the comments below or by tweeting me @megankortlandt.

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Permission to Start the Year with Blank Walls

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Starting with blank space allows for more collaborative instruction throughout the year.

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Teacher Moves That Cultivate Learner Agency

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Teacher Moves That Cultivate Learner Agency

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Helping students become independent, questioning thinkers begins with stepping back and guiding them to take the lead in their learning.

John Holcroft / Ikon Images

Cultivating learner agency is an endless journey. It not only entails knowing our students as human beings but also requires identifying and unlearning patterns in our teaching that unknowingly engender dependence in learners.

The term agency comes from the Latin agere, meaning "to set in motion." It is precisely what agency should do in our classrooms: empower learners so that their minds and hearts become the engines that drive learning in our classrooms. This isn't as simple as some might believe. Providing too much voice and choice without proper scaffolds can be counterproductive, resulting in chaos in the classroom.

Consider the following moves that cultivate learner agency-and choose one to try in your classroom.

Embrace the Quiet Moments

In an era of learning acceleration and learning loss, it can be hard to grant ourselves permission to slow down. But if we're looking to cultivate learner agency, we must consider the negative effects of accelerating learning-of always asking our students to be "on" in our classrooms. We must ask ourselves: Where does the urgency come from, and how might it be disenfranchising some of my students?

That sense of urgency can actually cause us to diminish learner agency. I've certainly been there. When I'm feeling that sense of urgency, I can't help but intervene prematurely, act on behalf of my students, and bear the majority of the cognitive load. But when I extend my wait time and embrace quiet moments that allow students to have opportunities to think on their own, my time investment pays off in large dividends, providing me with independent learners who find they have lots of tools to overcome obstacles on their own.

When we embrace these quiet moments, we bear witness to student process, which is perhaps the most personalized part of learning in our classrooms.

Praise Students' Journeys

By stepping back and supporting our students while they productively struggle, we can learn a great deal about their learning habits, praising and coaching their efforts along the way.

"I can tell you're seeking patterns," I said to a student recently. "That is something good mathematicians do. You may not always find the patterns, but looking for them is a great idea."

"I know research can be frustrating and confusing," I say to validate my students' feelings when they engage in the research process. "Let's talk about some ways to work through those feelings."

Praising students' journeys is a great place to start. But we must be specific in our positive feedback. We must name what our students are doing well in order to help them identify it for themselves. Otherwise, our classrooms become places full of empty compliments.

Cultivate a Sense of Mastery

Daniel Pink, author of Drive, describes mastery not as unlocked achievements or boxes checked on a report card, but instead as a "desire to get better at something that matters." In schools, this means cultivating awareness of how effort is connected to tangible progress.

After all, it makes intuitive sense: If we can see that the effort we're putting into a task is helping us grow, we're more likely to replicate those behaviors and persist through challenges. But it's easier said than done.

Allow for Learner-Driven Evaluation

In order for students to evaluate their own work, they need to have the language to do so. Otherwise, students may nondescriptively refer to their work as "good" or "bad." This means that educators must create structures, such as learner-friendly rubrics, that can provide them the language necessary to self-evaluate.

When first starting learner-driven evaluation, learners will need a lot of support. You may want to model how to reflect, even letting them borrow some of your language until they're ready to do it on their own.

Ask Questions More Often Than You Provide Corrective Feedback

While providing specific and actionable feedback is helpful for productive learning, asking thoughtful questions can help students give themselves feedback, allowing them to tap into their own agency and initiate improvements to their work on their own.

Good questions will have multiple answers; they won't lead students, either. Consider asking questions like "Why did you choose to...?" or "Is there a more efficient way to...?" This will force students to think about their thinking, adding a layer of agentive criticality to conversations.

When students are stuck, you may feel inclined to intervene directly in order to get them over their obstacles. But we must remember that if we, the teachers, are acting on behalf of students to help them overcome challenges, we may be doing more to diminish agency than we are cultivating it. In this instance, I like to ask students, "What tools do you have to help you get unstuck?"

Tell Students You Trust Them

This sounds simple, but it's really powerful. By telling students that you trust them, you hand over responsibility to them, and you let them know that no matter what happens-even if they make a mistake-it's all going to be OK.

But you have to walk the talk. It's not enough to only tell students that you trust them. You have to show them, too, by embracing the aforementioned teacher moves that cultivate learner agency.

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Teacher Moves That Cultivate Learner Agency

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Helping students become independent, questioning thinkers begins with stepping back and guiding them to take the lead in their learning.

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Using the Responsive Classroom Approach...

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Using the Responsive Classroom Approach...

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Let materials needed live on an anchor chart so you don't have to constantly repeat yourself.

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Every Friday they pick a piece of work that they are proud of to hang on the board. It can be something with a grade. It can be something with a stamp. It can be a practice paper.  Anything they did this week that makes themselves proud.

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Questions to Ask Yourself and Your Students

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Questions to Ask Yourself and Your Students

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Will this work for your readers and writers? How would you tweak it?

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How will students access these materials independently?

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How will INTERACTIVE MODELING ensure students use the spaces in your layout as expected? What needs to be modeled DAY #1? WEEK #1?

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Interactive Modeling is a straightforward, quickly paced process that's effective for teaching children any academic or social skill, routine, or procedure that you want them to do in a specific way (whether for safety, efficiency, or other reasons). One of the essential practices of the Responsive Classroom approach to teaching elementary school children, Interactive Modeling can be used by any adult anywhere in school at any time of year.

How Interactive Modeling Differs from Traditional Modeling

In traditional modeling, the teacher shows children how to do a skill, routine, or procedure, tells them what to notice, and expects that they will learn it immediately. Interactive Modeling also shows children how to do skills, routines, or procedures, but it goes well beyond that basic step. Students also:

Learn exactly why the skill, routine, or procedure is important to their learning and the respectful, smooth functioning of the classroom.

Are asked what they noticed about the teacher's modeling (rather than told by their teacher what to notice).

See a few classmates additionally model the routine or procedure after the teacher's initial modeling.

Practice the routine or procedure right away.

Receive immediate feedback and coaching from their teacher while they practice.

Why Interactive Modeling Is More Effective than Traditional Modeling

The distinctive steps of Interactive Modeling incorporate key elements of effective teaching: modeling positive behaviors, engaging students in active learning, and immediately assessing their understanding. Research shows that when we teach in this way, children achieve greater, faster, and longer-lasting success in meeting expectations and mastering skills.

With Interactive Modeling, children create clear, positive mental images of what is expected of them. They do the noticing themselves, which builds up their powers of observation and their analysis and communication skills. In addition, because they get immediate practice, they gain quicker expertise and stronger mastery of the procedure or skill being taught.

Interactive Modeling Steps for Elementary School

1. Briefly state what you will model, and why.

2. Model the behavior exactly as you expect students to do it (the right way, not the wrong way, and without describing what you're doing unless you need to "show" a thinking process).

3. Ask students what they noticed. (You may need to do some prompting, but children soon notice every little detail, especially as they gain expertise with this practice.)

4. Invite one or more students to model the same way you did.

5. Again, ask students what they noticed the modelers doing.

6. Have all students model while you observe and coach them.

7. Provide feedback, naming specific, positive actions you notice and redirecting respectfully but clearly when students go off track.

Interactive Modeling Steps for Middle School

1. Describe what you will model and why.

2. Model while students notice.

3. Give students the opportunity to collaborate and practice.

4. Reinforce their practice with immediate feedback.

What You Can Teach Using Interactive Modeling

Here are just a few examples:
Academic & Social Skills

Listening and responding to questions

Working with a partner or small group

Using technology and other resources

Taking part in a whole-group discussion

Test-prep procedures

Procedures & Routines

Arrival and dismissal routines

Cleaning up

Lunch, recess, and bathroom routines

Schoolwide assembly procedures

Transitions from one classroom/activity to another

How Long Interactive Modeling Takes

An Interactive Modeling lesson to demonstrate lining up, for example, may take only three or four minutes. A more involved lesson, such as teaching children how to partner chat, might take twenty minutes.

This modest investment saves you time in the long run. That's because children gain mastery more quickly and are thus able to spend much more time on task. You'll have less confusion in the classroom and fewer interruptions because children will not need to ask you or peers over and over what to do. As a result, you'll have more time for teaching-and children will have more time to complete their work and to learn.

How Much Time You Gain

A little time spent on teaching students exactly how you want them to do things will pay big dividends throughout the year. Say you lose a few minutes every hour to repeating instructions and dealing with interruptions. That can add up to twenty or thirty minutes of lost instructional and work time each day-2½ hours each week. That's 100 lost hours every school year! Think of what you could do with that time. Think of what your students could do.

What It Looks and Sounds like in Action

In a fifth grade classroom, Mrs. K wants the students to understand how to work productively during independent work time. She teaches this Interactive Modeling lesson:

1. Say what you will model and why.
Mrs. K: "Our goal is for everyone to do high-quality work during independent work time. Watch how Carlos and I work hard on our assignment and let others do the same."

2. Model the behavior.
Mrs. K and Carlos (coached in advance) demonstrate how to work on a research assignment at the same table. They work quietly, but to show that it's okay to talk, they each exchange one fact from their research, briefly and in low voices. Then they get right back to work.

3. Ask students what they noticed.
Mrs. K: "What did you notice?" Her students note the key elements of the demonstration, such as how Carlos and Mrs. K stayed in their seats, worked quietly, and talked in low voices for only a short time. Mrs. K prompts students to name any key behaviors they missed. For example: "What did we do with our papers and other materials?"

4. Invite one or more students to model.
Mrs. K chooses four more students, who demonstrate how to work independently at the same table just as she and Carlos did.

5. Again, ask students what they noticed.
Mrs. K: "What did you notice this time?" Her students point out the key elements, just as they did in Step 3, helping to reinforce these behaviors for themselves. Again, she prompts them if they miss any key behaviors.

6. Have all students practice.
Mrs. K gives all her students a short survey to work on so she can observe and coach them.

7. Provide feedback.
Mrs. K: "I see everyone focused on the survey, working quietly. That kind of focus will help you and your classmates complete your assignments and learn a lot this year."

Popular Articles about Interactive Modeling

Interested in more articles on this topic? Check out:

Further Resources

For a deeper dive into Interactive Modeling, we have a variety of books available, including:

We also offer free elementary school and middle school Interactive Modeling Planning Guides.

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Interactive Modeling is a straightforward process for teaching children a skill, routine, or procedure you want them to do in a specific way.

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What parts of the classroom can be set up with and by students? When can you tackle this?

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Belonging + Significance

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When and how can we put the learning on the desks/tables in front of them rather than up front/on a screen?

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Keep these sentence stems on display for students to use when peer conferring.

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Your meeting space doesn't have to be a carpet area. Teach students to gather with their chairs.

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Wall and bulletin board space available for anchor charts, student work, etc.

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How might anchor charts live right at students' tables/desks?

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See how this technique for teaching classroom routines and procedures works. Unlike conventional modeling, Interactive Modeling gives children an active role...

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Copies of anchor charts for students to take and use on their own.

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Encourage students to go back and use them over and over again.

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Notice the PLAYING CARD which was likely used to group students.  Also notice the WHITE BOARD MARKER.  The ability to erase is a powerful motivator for risk-taking.

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How might this work for you and your students?

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What purpose might the blank space serve? Can you try something similar in your classroom?

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what and who is valued?

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Belonging + Significance

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Do you have a whiteboard that could be divided and used for group work in a similar way?

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When students and families enter our space at the start of the year, they find a rather empty classroom. There is furniture, places for children to sit, an easel to work at, and not a whole lot else. In particular, the walls are empty. My bulletin boards are bare. I put up a simple border, but no paper or fabric. It's plain and clean.

There are simple signs up I've printed that let families know why the room looks this way: I am waiting for the children to help me create our classroom environment. It is our classroom, not mine and I want their input as we work together on the space.

Many teachers love decorating their spaces before students arrive. If it brings you joy and makes you feel good, then by all means do it! Just know you're doing it mostly for you, and that's OK!

Starting the school year with empty walls has been a journey for me

When I began teaching, I spent (way too much of) my own money and time before school began crafting a beautiful classroom. I thought having a gorgeous room would make me a better teacher. I thought my students and families would see all the effort I'd put in and equate that with my teaching abilities and the year they'd be experiencing with me as their teacher.

Now I realize much of this pressure came from myself. This was before social media was a place where Pinterest and Instagram gorgeous classrooms were the norm. I was looking around at my colleagues and placing this pressure on myself. As the school year began, I was so anxious. There was so much out of my control and one aspect I could command was the classroom decor. But did it truly make a difference?

Here are some reasons why I now appreciate starting with a mostly empty classroom

● Sends the message the space is ours and not mine: When children walk into the classroom and hear, "I've been waiting for you! Let's create our space together!" it sends a clear message about ownership of the space. That message transfers to ownership of the learning.

● Allows children to have a voice in their learning environment: Why not ask kids what they'd like their classroom to look and feel like? With younger students, these choices can be limited, "Do you think we should create our schedule with a black or blue marker?"

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What if I told you...you don't have to decorate your classroom? Why I start with an empty classroom and have my students help decorate.

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Could you try a version of VNPSs out with chart paper?

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Have you ever walked into a classroom and felt seriously overwhelmed? Not just about being back in school, but by the magnitude of anchor charts, posters, and materials that literally cover the room, floor to ceiling (sometimes even on the ceiling!)? In today's classroom, that seems to be the norm and the expectation. But in my classroom, this just wasn't possible.

I am, what you would call, a neat freak.

At home, at school, in my car, I just like a clean, organized space. When it comes to setting up and maintaining my classroom, I keep it neat all year. But I noticed that my classroom was different from others, especially as I heard comments colleagues made about it. For example, when our custodians repeatedly claim that I have the cleanest room in the building. Or when teachers visit my classroom and say, "Wow, your room feels so open" or, "This room just calms me." It got me thinking, isn't that what it's supposed to do? Aren't our classrooms supposed to feel like a safe, engaging space for students to learn?

My classroom doesn't look like my fellow teachers', and I'm okay with that.

A study at University of Salford, UK, explored how various environmental factors in the classroom impact students' learning and achievement. As researchers examined 153 classrooms across the UK, they considered factors including lights, air, temperature, wall displays, and access to nature. Overall, the study found that the classroom environment played a major role in student learning: that students' achievement increased when the visual stimuli was at a moderate level and suffered when the classroom environment was overwhelming.

Another study looked at achievement levels of kindergartners placed in either a well-decorated or a sparse classroom. Results showed that the students in the well-decorated classroom not only spent more time distracted from learning, but also performed lower on post assessments than their peers in the sparse room.

If our environment yields such influence over student performance, why the great pressure to post everything? Why are educators constantly told by higher powers to hang up this and display that if we know it's at the expense of our students' potential learning?

Since this realization, I've taken on the title of Aspiring Minimalist Teacher.

I make sure that my classroom assists my teaching by providing an enriching yet calming space for my students to learn. I avoid clutter, clean often, and attempt to keep only the materials I use frequently. Therefore, to aid other aspiring minimalist teachers, I've come up with suggestions to help them evaluate their classroom environment and arrange it to best fit their and their students' needs.

Big furniture should act like a map.

At the beginning of each school year, I start with a clean slate. I move all the furniture to one side of the room, and then start to envision how my classroom would best function. Furniture should create well-defined areas and easily accessible pathways to maneuver around the classroom. Anyone should be able to come to your classroom and see where various learning centers are, how they are used (individual vs. group work), and how to get to them easily. Furniture should not block windows, as they provide students access to nature while they're inside.

Pick the right colors and don't overuse them.

Think of a place that calms you. Did you say a beach? Sunset over the mountains? Rolling hills or a starlit night? If those places are calming for you, mimic those colors in your classroom. Natural wood furniture and colors found in nature will bring a serenity to your classroom without looking dull. If you bring more intense color into your classroom, balance it out and have a reason to draw students' attention to the bolder hue. Too much color or not enough can be distracting to the eye-and a daydreaming child.

Keep what you need; chuck what you don't.

Teachers are notorious hoarders; we accumulate things over the years, and no matter how often we clean out our room, the stuff never goes away. Now, I'm not telling you to go full Marie Kondo, but really assess what you USE and NEED. If there are activities you like, take a picture and keep it in a binder along with master copies, instead of keeping bulky projects. If there are materials or resources you haven't used in a year, maybe it's time to find them another home. Having too many materials makes the space feel smaller and overwhelming. For the items you do keep, find them organized homes in bins or inside cabinets to diminish the cluttered look.

Clean off your desk!

This one also blew my colleagues' minds. When I leave school, EVERY DAY, I leave my desk completely clean. Yes, nothing on it but a clipboard with my lessons for the next day. Crazy, I know. But sometimes that clutter gets to be too much for you, and your students, to overcome. Anxiety builds as the layers of papers on your desk do, and your students can feel it too. For me, it was like leaving my day with a clean slate and inversely starting the new day with one too. Visually allowing my space to be neat and organized helped me keep my mind more organized. Whether you have trays for your papers or need to take 10 minutes after class to find your desk, I think it really helps your mental space remain clear.

Reset the classroom each day.

Take the principle from above and now apply it to your students. Your students need to have a clean slate each day too, and that means coming into a clean, tidy classroom. I used to take time after school (seriously 15 minutes, not long) to straighten up tables, put away materials, and hopefully get my materials out and prepped for the next day. When my students came to my class, they knew what to do and where to go because their class was organized. I know many teachers at the end of the day have procedures where students aid in cleaning the room. That's a great way to have them help keep the classroom organized and also declutter their minds.

Adopt the one-month-on-the-wall rule.

This topic gets a lot of talk from principals, districts reps, and mentor/coaches. But believe it or not, our students' achievements and our teacher efficiency is not measured by the number of items hanging on our walls. I try to only put items on my walls that are meaningful to my students and their learning at that moment-no fluff, no extras, just what's important. Thus, most items stay on my walls for no longer than a month (the usual length of our units). Usually, I try to change out student work weekly. I know that might sound crazy, but I felt that if it wasn't in the top three things I was teaching that week, I didn't need to display it.

Hopefully, you haven't been scared off yet and these suggestions get you thinking about your teaching practice and your classroom. As you start your next school year, or semester, think of small changes you can make in your room. How will this benefit my students? How will I be able to tell? How can I make my room work for us, instead of spending hours working on my room? It just takes a few steps in the right direction to start seeing big changes. Happy organizing!
We'd love to hear your thoughts on minimalist classroom design: yea or nay? Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook. Plus, how Pinterest-perfect classrooms get in the way of learning.

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Minimalist Classroom Design: Why It's Effective & How to Do It

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Have you ever walked into a classroom and felt seriously overwhelmed? Not just about being back in school, but by the magnitude of anchor charts, posters, and materials that literally cover the room, floor to ceiling (sometimes even on the ceiling!)? In today's classroom, that seems to be the norm and the expectation.

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✅Defronting the classroom!
Diving into implementing  #thinkingclassroom in Grade 8 Math. Thanks to @pgliljedahl for the inspiration!  

Even though it’s the end of the day the room feels ready!
✅Whiteboards (VNPS)
✅Visible Randomized Groups
✅Open Middle Thinking Questions.

# data[].attributes.wish_content.attachment_props.original_text
✅Defronting the classroom!
Diving into implementing  #thinkingclassroom in Grade 8 Math. Thanks to @pgliljedahl for the inspiration!  

Even though it’s the end of the day the room feels ready!
✅Whiteboards (VNPS)
✅Visible Randomized Groups
✅Open Middle Thinking Questions. https://t.co/sR50XIbanh

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
✅Defronting the classroom!
Diving into implementing #thinkingclassroom in Grade 8 Math. Thanks to @pgliljedahl for the inspiration!

Even though it’s the end of the day the room feels ready!
✅Whiteboards (VNPS)
✅Visible Randomized Groups
✅Open Middle Thinking Questions. pic.twitter.com/sR50XIbanh
— John Stephens (@CTEPEI) March 22, 2022

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props_source.data.text
✅Defronting the classroom!
Diving into implementing  #thinkingclassroom in Grade 8 Math. Thanks to @pgliljedahl for the inspiration!  

Even though it’s the end of the day the room feels ready!
✅Whiteboards (VNPS)
✅Visible Randomized Groups
✅Open Middle Thinking Questions. https://t.co/sR50XIbanh

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.original_text
✅Defronting the classroom!
Diving into implementing  #thinkingclassroom in Grade 8 Math. Thanks to @pgliljedahl for the inspiration!  

Even though it’s the end of the day the room feels ready!
✅Whiteboards (VNPS)
✅Visible Randomized Groups
✅Open Middle Thinking Questions. https://t.co/sR50XIbanh

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.metadata.attachment_props.text
✅Defronting the classroom!
Diving into implementing  #thinkingclassroom in Grade 8 Math. Thanks to @pgliljedahl for the inspiration!  

Even though it’s the end of the day the room feels ready!
✅Whiteboards (VNPS)
✅Visible Randomized Groups
✅Open Middle Thinking Questions.

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Arranging Furniture in a Thinking Classroom

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Arranging Furniture in a Thinking Classroom

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You Must Read Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics By Peter Liljedahl - Robert Kaplinsky

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Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics by Peter Liljedahl has more potential to improve the way we teach mathematics than any other book I have ever read.