Decorate

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If an adult literacy program asked your advice about decorating it, what would you suggest?

On July 14th, 2007, on the National Institute for Literacy Professional Development discussion list, a discussion about decorating the walls of adult literacy education classrooms began with a question posed by Daphne Greenberg. Heide Spruck Wrigley, David J. Rosen, Andres Muro, Lenore Balliro, Janet Isserlis, Karisa Tashjian, Holly Dilatush-Guthrie, Angela Smith, Wendy Quinones, and Sally Gabb all contributed. The discussion is archived at http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/professionaldevelopment/2007/date.html Below is a lightly edited version of the discussion.

Daphne: If an adult literacy program asked your advice about decorating it, what would you suggest? For example, would you suggest posters that show people reading, or some other educationally focused poster? Or would you suggest something else? Any ideas where one can get posters like the ones you would suggest? What types of decoration on the walls do your programs have?

Heide: My advice: Forget the posters! I don’t think people get motivated to read by watching pictures of other people with books (I can hear our students say: “Of course these people read, those are highly literate people. If I could read well, I would read books too”.)

Instead, I would recommend:

1. Compelling pictures instead of motivational posters (I like Material World). I would select photographs or paintings that give students something to talk and write about

2. Powerful quotes (again not motivational) that students can agree or disagree with (and research authors).

Example:

“It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.” Agree/Disagree? Who said it and why? Did (s)he live by those principles?

I suffered two severe accidents in my life: I was hit by a streetcar (and broke my back), the other one was Diego (my husband). Who would say such a thing and what does it mean? Who was this person and what happened to her? Make a guess about her life.

(I paraphrased Frida here)

And while we are at it: No fake flowers of any kind but lots of glamour shots of all the students who’ve passed the GED!

David: I have recently been re-reading _Understanding by Design_, 2nd ed. ,a fine book by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe on curriculum development. So, through that lens, I think that classroom "decorating" misses the point of adult education. I would ask, instead, as Wiggins and McTighe do, "What are the Big Ideas and Core Tasks?" of the curriculum, and how can the classroom (walls) help students understand those?

There are lots of ways to use the physical environment of the classroom for learning and assessment, once the Big Ideas/Core tasks are clear. Each week the classroom walls could have questions, pictures, drawings, key words, hanging objects and two-dimensional sculptures that reflected just one Big idea or Core Task. Or, if there were 20 weeks and 20 Big Ideas/Core Tasks, each week a wall area could be developed with the new Big Idea/Core Tasks so that by the end of the 20 weeks the walls had them all. For classes where it isn't possible to put something on the wall, each week there could be a digital slide show of images that the teacher and students have found that exemplify the Big Idea/Core Tasks for that week. The best images could be saved for future classes. Students' selections of images could also be a good formative assessment to help the teacher and the students determine how well students are understanding the Big Idea/Core Task.

Of course, there are other approaches to curriculum development, a Freirean approach for example, or a theme-based approach.

Andres: Our teachers ask students to do research on different topics. Students work in groups and make presentations to the class about topics using posters. We use those to decorate classrooms. We also hang students’ work, etc.

Lenore: This idea of what to put on classroom walls intrigues me, and I consider visual choices more than just decorating...I'll start this posting with a practical, language-based idea then move on to the more unusual possibilities.

One inexpensive way I keep the flow going from one class to the next is by using good old fashioned newsprint. In the beginning of a class I post a few sheets of BLANK newsprint on the walls. I use these sheets to capture, not only any language experience work that emerges, but all that unexpected, rich, off-topic language that pops up: an idiom, a phrase, a misheard word that needs explanation, a sketch of a map. Sometimes I use little drawings to illustrate a concept. At the end of the class, I can take these sheets down and use the information in some way to plan mini lessons for the future. I can also bring the newsprint back into class so the students don't forget the incidental language and concepts that emerged the preceding class. The newsprint becomes a visual documentation and chronology of sorts. Easy.

However, I also feel that using the walls to create what I like to call a spirit of speculation, imagination, prediction, or inquiry is a good way to encourage our students to use their imaginations and go to expansive places outside the limits of the printed page.

How about thinking of the classroom walls as gallery space for conceptual art? I have seen installations in museums and galleries that would translate beautifully to a classroom and would spark language and discussion. For example, one installation used a collection of old tea/dish towels strung from lines. The artist had solicited for towels from across the country and asked people to submit a little written piece for each one. You can imagine the variety with all these homey, useful artifacts, ones that brought out memories and stories. Tattered, torn, crisp and new, souvenirs, embroidered, etc. Installations like this help our students think about what makes art? And who gets to say what art is? And how do we talk about art?

Vintage gloves, "cutter quilts" that represent various patterns, recycled materials, blown up lines from poems or excerpts of overheard dialogue typed up and strung across the room. All of these could be used to keep a spirit of imagination in the classroom.

Inexpensive acrylic frames could be mounted across the room, and the contents of those frames could be changed periodically. Projects will eventually spark other ideas.

Painting one wall with blackboard paint (available at Home Depot) would allow students to do graffiti on the walls, write messages to each other or the next class.

Attach simple bolts or brads in the corners of the room and engage students in a spider web project where they use string or wire to construct a connected piece of art. Meditative, silent, collaborative, symbolic.

David: Great ideas, Lenore. "Strung across the room" sparked this thought for teachers who aren't allowed to put things on the walls of their classroom. Perhaps a teacher could carry the (rolled up) flip chart sheets or posters s/he or the students had made, taped to a clothesline, wire, or heavy duty string that could be put up by students at the beginning of each class and folded up by them at the end of the class. Maybe this "portable gallery" could even be stored someplace in the room or building.

The "big Idea/Core Tasks" underpinning this might include the skills that you mentioned: "speculation", "imagination", "prediction", or "inquiry" and the classroom environment, as well as specific lessons, might be designed to provide opportunities to learn (and assess) these skills.

Janet: these are great ideas. Implicit in what Lenore has said, too, is the notion of evidence and data. Not Hard Evidence and Creepy Data but a record of what a group has done, said and learned. another form of its common vocabulary. One that I hope, too, would be shared in various ways with folks who have visual impairments - and to which they can add (literal) texture and sound.

Karisa: I was surprised to find that local libraries (and I work at one!) have artwork (in beautiful frames) that can be borrowed. Another hidden treasure of the library, and one that I have used to spark great conversations in the ESL classroom.

Lenore: David, I love the idea of the clothesline image…there are inexpensive (dollar store) retractable clotheslines one can get and little clothespins. Also, if a program/classroom cannot use blackboard paint (I was stretching it there) how about a big piece of Masonite or plywood that has been painted with blackboard paint and leans sturdily against the wall? That doesn't need any permanent installation. For our younger learners still in their teens, the idea of doing graffiti and looking at it as a kind of literacy practice and art practice may be an energetic way to get them to use popular culture as a way into literacy. Anything offensive to subsequent classes--just wipe it off with a damp cloth! Also, the web/weaving idea could be done on a moveable piece of wood as well.

Holly: I've used quotes before -- and sometimes will do a "Quote of the Week" in ESOL classes for extra credit... a quote is given, and followed by three questions -- any student who would make an appointment, come to office hours, and SPEAK their answers to the quote would get some extra credit.

When sharing classrooms, the best experiences of success I have had have been when the school invests in portable divider boards -- one side for one teacher, the other side for the other teacher -- this way each instructor can pre-prepare and leave displays for their particular class.

I've used clotheslines before -- and cut out articles and photos from magazines/newspapers that I found interesting or thought students might -- and encouraged students (sometimes as a homework assignment) to add to that display -- I found mini clothespins at an educational supply store and these worked really well. I would then use the articles in classroom activities - allowing interaction by having students self-select two articles of interest to them... then designing Q and A activities or grammar activities or oral practice around them -- kept class quite lively.

Angela: I've been backtracking and reading comments on the theme of decorating the classroom or (maximizing teaching and learning opportunities) by utilizing physical space in the classroom. I appreciate the valuable input posted.

As a former literacy instructor, having been housed in a church (children) Sunday School class, to a trailer, to a renovated 'suite', making the classroom inviting has always been an interest/focus.

I (too) have used commercial inspirational/instructional posters, temporary (paper) bulletins for class activities, announcements and relevant informational theme boards and seasonal decorations, particularly for Christmas. Having personalized stockings placed throughout the classroom, for peer and teacher treat sharing was always a favorite.

However, students always appreciated (posted in the classroom first before taken home, usually) certificates of recognition E.g. weekly/monthly attendance, skill(s) improvement and achievement, etc!

My sister, who's a veteran elementary teacher, used to tell me I needed to find ways to celebrate my students. Quite often, I follow her advice:). Such efforts encouraged my students greatly.

Wendy: Another "decoration" idea -- I put vocabulary words up on the wall in large type on colorful paper to remind people to use them in conversation. And for in-class assignments, I can say something like "Pick 5 words and write sentences" without having students waste time shuffling through their disorganized notebooks to find the vocabulary sheets.

Sally: a breath of fresh air from ABE to me, now working in community college developmental education. I realize the creativity within ABE that should inform higher education. These ideas are especially important for challenged readers trying to attend higher ed - connecting to intelligences, learning modalities and input across all the senses. Many folks in higher ed are still locked in a 'teacher centered/ text based' form of teaching and learning. I especially like the idea of interactive communications spaces, and of including texture and sound as other dimensions. We have many who learn best from input other than textural/ visual who can be inspired by such opportunities. I look forward to sharing these creative ideas with colleagues!

Janet: Lenore's temporary blackboard markings can be photographed (digital, 'real') and used as code, texts and illustrations for future work...

Sallydefinitely - and students themselves can be in charge of taking photographs - even putting on websites through digital means - the possibilities are endless.

Lenore Wow--yes, of course--capturing the graffiti or temporary writing via digital camera, or digital movies..great idea. Then projecting them on the walls. Writing about the images. Posting the writings. And so on.

Lenore I'm also jumping to connect to something Andy Nash and I are working on--scaffolding--and its importance to helping make meaning from print, especially for non English speakers. The more concrete you can be, the more support about content, the better equipped students are to construct meaning from print. So the visual, textual, sensory, scent, all the senses, really, can help.

A long time ago I took a basic design class, and the teacher used the Bauhaus method of introducing visual problems to solve as a way to understand design. I have used some of these activities with teachers--usually in an effort to help all of us think beyond the apparent or obvious and set up a structure for different kinds of curriculum units.

For example, once for homework we had to make 50 sketches of an orange. By the time you get to 10, you stop and ask where to go...no answers. So you start cutting and squeezing and sketching some more. And asking many questions. And moving ahead with the momentum. I gave teachers oranges in a workshop once and asked them to generate questions about the oranges, as many as they could. Then more. We looked at all the questions and then looked at where we could go with all the inquiry as a way to do some language and literacy work. It was fun.

More recently, I started a health and literacy workshop with many different kinds of dried beans. Lentils, kidney, pea, navy, black beans, etc. (We were leading up to a unit on nutrition and stress.) Piles of beans on each table as participants came in. Hmmm, what's this? Again--generate at least 20 questions about the beans. Look at the questions. See where they take you. What can you do for follow up? We came up with many follow up lessons--all multi-level--from Web research to reading bean labels for fiber content to , eventually, creating mandalas from the beans ( a distressing activity with n o language at all.) Along the way--idioms about beans, bean bag possibilities as a low cost toy/family literacy activity, looking at the questons on newsprint and examining the grammar (--wh questions can always use practice in ESOL

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