guide for teachers in structuring classrooms

1. Classroom
Display

2. 09/14/16
Reasons for Making Displays

3. • merely decorative
• develop the skills of teachers in display techniques and
use them effectively for educational, management and
other purposes
• enrich or reinforce what is being taught
• can include information for students
• set the scene for a new teaching topic
• part of some ongoing work
• provide students with something extra to do
• part of record keeping
• communicate to others what the class is doing
• stimulate and create interest

4. 09/14/16
The Display of Students' Work

5. • deserves special consideration and needs to be
approached sensitively
• celebrates effort, as well a perfect work
• helps students appreciate their own work and
the work of others
• students' names be visible
• students' involvement - with the teacher's
supervision

6. The Display of Students'Work
The reality is…
“We set standards by the environment we
offer to children” (Dean, 2001, p.197)

7. 09/14/16
Display Surfaces
walls
ceiling
windows
publications
public placesanother school
principal's office
staff room
corridors
string
table
cupboard tops
shelves

8. 09/14/16
Some Miscellaneous
Classroom Display Tips

9. • Relevance of display
• Coherence of display (create a theme/motif)
• Organization of display
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Full walls do not
mean they are
well decorated.
It is something
else

10. • Change displays regularly, to maintain
interest and freshness
• Displays need maintenance. Keep up running
repairs if things come loose or damaged or
untidy.
• Think about the eye level of students,
including when they are seated. This should
influence the height of displays.
• Give displays titles/captions

11. • When you visit other schools and
classrooms, look out for good display ideas.
• Search the Internet for classroom display
ideas and help.
• When preparing titles and labels for
displays, measure carefully the space
where these titles are to be placed.

12. • Learn from the past and from others.
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13. What about harmonizing colors
in displays?
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14. • Use contrasting
colors for
display.

15. 09/14/16

16. dark over light
 light over dark

17. • decide on a scheme for the alignment and
arrangement of display material. if display
items are of different sizes, they can be
aligned along a top edge
Example Layout

18. or a vertical or horizontal line of symmetry

20. 09/14/16
alignment tip:
Use yarn and do not
rely on your visual
sight in aligning
the display

21. •
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22. • Double mounting display material can add greatly to its visual impact
Border effects
Background
Outer
mount
Double mounting
Inner mount
Picture

23. • stick narrow strips of contrasting colored
paper

24. • borders for the display area itself can
also be created using repeat motifs

25. 09/14/16
What about the
text?

29. • Text (i.e. quotes, labels or titles) should
be legible even to the last person seated
at the back row

30. 09/14/16
Do picture
displays come
easy to you?

31. Some tips:
1. Create an overall theme
2. DIY (Draw It Yourself).
Can't draw? Seek the help of
Mr. Publisher

32. “This is the way we do things around here”.
The Power of Display:

33. “Those schools that have books falling off the
shelves, with books laid on top of other books,
some with ripped covers, others with pages
falling out, give the visitor a clear impression of
the school, and the culture”
Quote

34. “Classrooms have personalities just
like people.”
-63 Ways of Improving Classroom Instruction
(Gary Phillips and Maurice Gibbons)

35. - end -
References:
A Classroom and School Display. A Guide for Teachers and for Teacher
Training by Dr. David Smawfield. 2006
Morrow, L. M. (1990). Preparing the classroom environment to promote
literacy during play. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 5, 537-554.

36. What did you do?
• Did you make a lay-out plan?
 Agree on the background
 agree on the colors to apply on the characters
 Agree on the colors of the text
• What color combination/s is /are applied?
• Is the quote legible even to the last person in the line?
• Is the placement of the letters straight? How did you get a
straight line? (or the opposite)
• Did you provide a breathing space on the display board?
09/14/16