Whose Walls Are They, Anyway?

Walk into almost any fourth-grade classroom, and the first thing you notice is the walls. You might see bright butcher paper, colorful borders, reading charts, and rows of worksheets neatly pinned under the fluorescent lights. In most rooms, though, every single item was chosen, arranged, and stapled by the teacher before the school year even started. Our teacher works hard to make our room inviting, but students spend six hours a day inside these four walls. Because this room belongs to all of us, students should have an active role in choosing and organizing our classroom displays.

First, having a say in what goes on the wall builds genuine pride. In many classes, teachers hang up every single paper from an assignment, even if someone rushed through it or feels embarrassed by their drawing. If students could choose which pieces to display, we would pick work that shows real effort and progress. For instance, after finishing our recent ecosystem posters, several classmates spent extra time sketching river otters and writing neat captions. Deciding together where to hang those posters would make the classroom feel like a shared gallery. When students select the work they are proudest of, they take better care of the display area and feel motivated to do their best on future assignments.