Watch administration twist themselves in knots
One of the cheapest and least effective interventions in struggling public schools is to require teachers to hang very specific items on their walls. From a teaching standpoint, these interventions do nothing for students, especially in the early elementary grades when students can neither read nor process most of the mandatory items hanging on walls. Things like data walls, detailed objectives, standards based bulletin boards, and other measures of “conformity” do not improve practice. I can’t think of any instance where they have actually improved practice or student outcomes.
Can you?
Teachers must inevitably rob Peter to pay Paul; that is, time must be taken away from one thing to accommodate another. A teacher will be less likely to find trouble if they rob from their practice than they will if they ignore a mandated display. You can be sure that an administrator or other official will be around to make those “environment checks” before they’ll have the time to spend more than five minutes in your room to check on your teaching.
Mandatory wall hangings are not for students, they’re for the hit and run clipboard crowd. You know the types. They sometimes come in groups, stare at the walls for a few moments in stone silence, maybe check Watch administration twist themselves in knots. | @ THE CHALKFACE: