Setting Up Your Secondary Classroom for Style and Efficiency
It's no secret that secondary teachers and elementary teachers tend to decorate and set up classrooms completely differently.
Cutesy themes that get changed every single year generally aren’t our jam in secondary grades!
I’ll admit that I'm a low-key decor kind of teacher who has a love-hate relationship with setting up a classroom.
My goal was to always make my classroom organized, inviting, and student centered without pouring hours of my time into the setup.
For me, classroom setup was always something I aimed to finish before the first teacher work day because it stressed me out to be working on decor when I should have been working on planning effectively for students to return. Plus, it’s so much easier to plan in a completely set up and decorated environment.
As educators, we put so much thought and intention into our classrooms. It's a home away from home for us and our students. An organized and well thought out space shows that you care about your students and you take pride in your job. It also makes your year so much easier!
Today, I’m giving you tips and tricks that can hopefully give you ideas if you're feeling uninspired or need to mix it up this year.
First, let's talk bulletin boards. I am the QUEEN of low key bulletin boards that I can put up, leave up, and only change minimal things about each year. My ULTIMATE bulletin board hack is using fabric instead of paper as the background. That's right, go to your local craft store and have them cut fabric in your bulletin board size. It looks nicer, last 10x longer, and it will never fade! True story, I put these bulletin boards up in 2016, and they are still going strong even though this classroom now belongs to a different teacher! haha
Need some bulletin board ideas? Feel free to use these...
Looking for some easy decor ideas for a bulletin board, corner of a classroom, or even to adhere to your desk? Check out these FREE printable quote posters in the Marketing Mayhem TPT store.
Marketing and Business Quote Posters
Leadership and Growth Mindset Quote Posters
Now let's talk classroom set up! When I talk to teachers in my building about classroom environment I always ask these questions:
How is your classroom decor student focused?
How does your setup and decor reinforce your classroom routines and procedures?
How do you differentiate your space from student space?
How is your classroom designed to promote movement and collaboration?
Let's break it down...
How is your classroom decor student focused?
Where can students see their work and accomplishments reflected inside the classroom? One of the ways I love to reflect student accomplishments in classroom decor is by highlighting student accomplishments through what I liked to call my "DECA walls." (These also worked as a great recruitment tool!) Use a wall to highlight accomplishments earned together as a chapter and then highlight student individual accomplishments on a Wall of Fame. Set your own parameters on stipulations for what constitutes making the "walls of fame" in your classroom, but I found it was highly motivating for students and gave them a goal to strive for!
Throughout the semester I would also add exemplary student projects to a "Wall of Fame" as well! When I taught Computer Apps, I had a wall of fame for students who met their typing growth goals each week & we have walls of fame in our building for students who pass industry certification tests!
2. How does your classroom setup reinforce your routines and procedures?
Part of running a successful classroom is establishing routines and procedures and enforcing them. Do you have designated places for students to turn in work, pick up graded work, check make up work, gather supplies, put their personal belongings away, etc.? Although many of these things can now be done online through your LMS, it's always still a good idea to have a physical place in the room established for these things if you use paper copies of materials.
(If you like the large, black letters I used to create my "walls of fame," student make-up work and turn in stations, and some of my bulletin boards they are from amazon and here's the link Large Black Bulletin Board Letters. Pro tip: I ordered two sets to make sure I always had enough of each letter! (Letters linked in my Amazon affiliate storefront)
3. How do you differentiate your space from student space?
This is HUGE for me! Your students need to know that there are areas in your room that are completely off limits to them. You need your own space and supplies as a teacher. Establish a designated space where students can get supplies that they may need that is not near your desk. (See photo above...my turn in/pick up station was also always stocked with paper, pencils, pens, highlighters, hole punchers, staplers, etc. that were all for student use.)
My students knew that my desk and the area behind it was completely off limits to them. One trick I used to maintain this is that I used several tables to create a "U" shaped space for my desk which "boxed in" the area I wanted students to stay out of. If you don't have room to create a full "U" shape, an "L" shape also does the trick!
4. How is your classroom designed to promote movement and collaboration?
"When the bum is numb, the brain is dumb" is one of my favorite phrases I ever learned in my college education classes. We know that students learn and retain information better when they can move around and collaborate with others, but this can be a challenge when your classroom setup can only configure one way (especially if you have a room full of computers!) The key is finding what works best for you and your students.
My classroom had no desks in it; all the computers were on countertops against the walls, which proved to be a nightmare for collaboration and group work. I asked my principal if I could order conference tables that students could work at and collaborate to put in the middle of the room, and he happily obliged. Based on what we were doing that day, I let them know when they walked in if we would be starting class at the center tables or at the computers.
The key is finding what works best for your room that still allows students to move around and collaborate...maybe it's flexible seating, maybe it's tables that are grouped together, maybe it's moving to the hallway on days you need to spread out and incorporate some movement. Find what works for you, utilize it, and make it part of your routine!
Want to know my biggest tip for classroom setup...Remember, you don’t have to do everything everyone else is doing. Try what you think will work best for your teaching style, your students, and the learning environment you are trying to create. Overwhelmed? Just pick one thing.
If you’re changing up your classroom this year, I’d love to see pictures of your setup! Feel free to share pics with me on social media or via email!