I am a seventh grade teacher with a degree in elementary education. If you’ve had the normal public education experience, you do not look back on middle school fondly. I’m with you there. I was the middle school girl who did not know how to put on makeup, parted her hair down the middle, and thought that you fixed frizzy hair by wetting it down between classes. It was not pretty folks. That being said, I love teaching middle school. They have angst, they “have a life….gaaaaw”, and they are at a pivotal point in their lives. They are still forming their identity and part of that is trying to figure out whether they want to check in or check out of school. I love being a part of that.
“Mrs. E, why couldn’t you teach connotation before parent teacher conferences? Then my grade would’ve been higher! Then my dad wouldn’t have had to go, and my frog wouldn’t have drowned. He drowned and my dad could’ve saved him….but he was preoccupied.” – 7th Grade Boy
When you graduate with a degree in elementary education, there are certain things that people assume you’ll have in your basic skill toolbox, such as making bulletin boards. I do not have that skill. I agonize over it, spend way too much time on them, and they still do not turn out well. So I started this year where I start every year in classroom preparation: digging through Pinterest for bulletin board inspiration. And this is what I found.
Let me explain why I fell in love with this idea for a classroom bulletin board. I have this dream of having a culture shift when it comes to valuing reading. I mean you have a niche of students who are all about the books. They love the library and sharing what they’re reading. Overall though, it isn’t “cool” to read for fun. Unfortunately, it really isn’t even that cool to read for homework assignments. However, most educated adults can see the long term value of people who read, whether that be novels that expose you to different perspectives, biographies, or even the newspaper — especially the newspaper. Basically if you are a reader for life, your education does not stagnate after you finish high school or higher education. You are a learner for life. Most of the times that I’ve been aggravated with other adults, they have not been people that I would classify as lifelong learners. Just saying.
So I’m all about this culture shift and I have all of these big ideas on how to work towards that, which I’m sure I’ll be blogging about later. For now, I’m tackling this bulletin board. I love that it is interactive. Students can volunteer to put up pictures of themselves reading or just their book standing alone in a favorite reading spot. It’s a nod at all of those selfies and book pics that you see on social media without being an obvious tie. The goal after all is to take them away from social media and get their eyes on more substantial text.
I’m not too worried about lack of volunteers either. You know what middle schoolers love? Themselves. And pictures of themselves. You know who is most likely to proudly post pictures of themselves on the bulletin board for the rest of the student body to see first? The cool kids. Culture. Shift. I think the true bookworms will get their pictures up there too once it fills in more. To get them started, I’ll pin up a couple of my own favorite book pics.
“Gone With the Wind” has been the behemoth summer read this year. By no means is it all that I’ve read, but this one has been the biggest investment. The two of my son were taken for birthday pictures. I love them because they show his favorite books at one and two years old. If you haven’t read “Triangle” by Jon Klassen, you should check it out immediately. It’s a favorite read aloud!
I’m excited to see how this bulletin board goes and plan on posting an update once I get some student contributions! I am a little worried about getting a picture of a toilet, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Child Goose Chase 