Decorating Your High School Classroom

During teacher orientation of my first year of teaching, I was shown my new classroom and told to set it up however I liked. There were twenty-four desks, two chalk boards, one white board and a whole lot of gray wall. The floor was ratty carpet – stained and torn in places – and I couldn’t imagine a more depressing learning environment.

Nowadays, classrooms rarely have windows, which are thought to distract young minds from school work, but I had two, and they were my only asset. One looked out onto the student parking lot, and the other offered a view of the high school courtyard. As classrooms go, I suppose I was lucky, but I had no idea how to decorate.

Now, after years of experience, I have learned how to prepare a classroom for learning. Different schools possess varying degrees of rules where decorating a classroom is concerned, but in most cases teachers have options.

Your Desk

During my first semester of teaching, I placed my desk in the back of the classroom because I thought it would be nice to make more room for lecturing in the front. That was the first and last time I ever made that mistake. Now, my desk sits catty-corner on the left-hand side of the room, at the front. I put it here because from my vantage point, I can watch every student in my classroom.

I’m an advocate of decorating the teacher’s desk because it brings a sense of the teacher’s personality into the classroom. Learning isn’t all about rules and codes of conduct, but also about connecting with students. I see no reason why teachers shouldn’t place photographs, mementos and personal objects on their desks, as long as they are of a squeaky-clean nature. I bring a lamp from home so that I can work after hours without the glaring fluorescent lights in my eyes, and I also put pictures of my kids on the corners.

The Students’ Desks

There are a myriad of ways to arrange desks in a classroom, and I know teachers who rearrange every semester to break the monotony. My desks have been arranged in the same way since my third year of teaching, however, but only because it works for me.