What Every Music Teacher MUST Have on their Walls!

​It’s hard to give sweeping “requirements” for any teacher.  It’s hard to even say “all music teachers must…” because we all have such diverse curricular requirements.  What you put on your classroom walls should reflect what you teach.  I taught two guitar classes and two beginning orchestra classes last year and so a portion of my room was devoted to chord charts, string names, and different clefs.  I wouldn’t expect to see those same materials on someone else’s walls unless they had a similar curriculum.  In the same way, we music teachers might put up slightly different things on the wall depending on if we’re Orff trained, Kodaly inspired, Gordon leaning, or maybe even Dalcroze bound.With that in mind, let me offer some suggestions and ideas about how to set up your classroom so that students succeed, administrators are appeased, and you don’t lose your mind.

 

This is one of my pet peeves.  If you have spent any time in the education or childcare world you have come across a “kid’s space” that was clearly NOT designed for kids.  The perfect example comes from the student bathrooms that were right across from my music room last year.   This was the bathroom designated for the primary wing and served K-2 classrooms.  However, the sinks were so high that anyone smaller than a 3rd grader really needed a stool or box to stand on.  Even then, the soap dispenser and water knobs were nearly out of reach for the students. The pressure was unusual and the knobs were hard to turn and this usually resulted in a kid getting sprayed in the face or splashing water all over the counter.  To top it all off, the blower hand dryers were mounted on the wall so that when a student raised their hands to dry them off they got hot air blowing directly in their face.  This bathroom was NOT built with kids in mind.

Also think about what you put in the hallway.  As kids walk by you want them to see content at their eye-level or slightly higher.  Post pictures, posters, and other content closer to kid height and think about ages when you post.  For example, I have a set of “I can” posters with an outer space theme that I sometimes put out in the hallway for back to school.  I try and post the easier standards like “I can sing,” or “I can play instruments” lower to the ground so that K-2 students can see and read those with ease.  I put more complex standards like “I can improvise melodies, variations, and accompaniments” higher up on the wall so that grades 3-5 and adults can see them.

 

It all started with something I saw on Pinterest…. (and isn’t that how all black-hole, time suck projects start).  I saw this pin with an amazing timeline where pictures and reference material sparkled off the timeline making each piece come to life.  I thought that I could easily replicate that idea with music history and at different points in time I could show composer pictures or when instruments were invented or the different musical periods.  I found some really cool composer profile posters in my classroom closet and then some awesome clip art for instruments online.​Then came the conundrum of where the timeline would go.  What would have to come down for it to go up?  I also had to think about how all those things would stick to the wall.  Would I connect them with string?  How far back in time do I go and how do I fit all the things that I want to include?  So many questions and never enough time.  The project was never completed…

Don’t waste time on something that is NOT WORTH YOUR TIME!  My music history timeline is a great example.  I was excited about the pin that I saw and the many different things that could be included.  I love music history and think it’s so fun to share facts and quotes with students.  But I definitely wasn’t thinking about how often I would reference it or what it would do for my classroom. While it would be cool to have the timeline on the wall I don’t think that I would talk about it all that often.  In fact, it might draw students AWAY from what we were actually doing in class.  Instead I spent some time making these cool instrument flags that looked like colorful bunting.  I DO reference those all the time and students love to look up and find instrument that they have seen in real life or that we talk about in class.

Pinterest can be your friend or your enemy.  Don’t get over excited about something that will take too much time!  Pin it, think about how it would work, and decide if it’s worth your effort.  If it’s not, move on!  Don’t spend hours and hours creating that beautiful door decoration if you haven’t put anything on the walls of your classroom.  Don’t make a huge paper mache “learning tree” if it doesn’t match the content and theme of what you’re teaching THIS YEAR.I would also caution you to choose wisely and don’t be blinded by your momentary inspiration when you find pre-made content online (Teachers Pay Teachers or other sites).  You can find a lot of amazing resources on TPT and all it takes is a “click” to download, but not all of the files on TPT are worth your time and effort to actually create and hang if they don’t directly serve your teaching goals.  Don’t print out something that is NOT worthy of all the time it will take to ask your secretary to print in color, fight with the laminator, cut with the dull scissors that you still have in your teacher desk, and use “the right kind” of sticky tack to put up on your wall.  When time is of the essence, it’s important to choose wisely.  ​Don’t buy and print out that word wall kit if you won’t actually use it.  Don’t feel pressure to fill empty space just because it’s empty.  Be intentional about what you put on the wall and make sure it’s worth your time.

There are a lot of things that we COULD put up on our classroom walls, but should we?  I love going and visiting other music classrooms to see what people put on their wall.  Walking in as a total outsider gives you fresh eyes and makes you really consider what is important and why.  With that in mind, I’ve been rethinking some things on MY wall!

Why do we put up pictures of old white composers on our walls?  Sure Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven are important to the history of music, but how often will we talk about them in our teaching?  I love to always go back to the question “But does it enhance student learning?”  I would say that in most cases, pictures of composers do not enhance student learning.Think about all the classes that come through your door and see old white dudes on the wall but don’t know who they are or why they are significant.  Those men might be presidents for all they know.  They must be important if they get a permanent space on the classroom wall…

Maybe you reference the composers all the time or at least take the time to point out who they are and why they are important.  If so, that’s great!  But don’t feel like you have to put their pictures on the wall because 1) you have the posters already sitting in the closet, 2) you have the blank space on your wall and 3) you have a vague feeling of obligation to put their pictures up because they contributed to the history of music.

​If you don’t reference who the composers are and why they’re important enough to go on the wall students just see the image.  In this instance you are unintentionally teaching the students that white men are important.  So, either you should talk about them more often (do a composer of the week where you spend 1 minute saying his/her name and play a tiny snippet of their music), add in some women and/or people of color (HERE is an example of how to teach kids about female music makers- easy to do! and HERE is an example of how to include people of color), or just take down the composer pictures and put something else up.

The Curse of Cute

It is far too easy to decorate your classroom and fall victim to the “curse of cute.”  Visit nearly any kindergarten classroom and you’ll see cute clip art, curely/kidsy fonts, stuffed animals, tiny tables, and endless crayon crafts.  Your heart will “sqeeeeeee” with adorable excitement.  It’s just a given.I always try and remember the mantra:  “Cute is cute, but content is king.”  We all love to create colorful and catchy bulletin boards with adorable images of kids and music notes.  Just make sure that what you display in your classroom is also teaching content.  There is absolutely no shame in getting on Teachers Pay Teachers and finding some cute things to print out, but don’t buy those adorable posters on TPT just because they are adorable.  Buy them because they are a graphically engaging way to display the content that you want to teach.  Again, be intentional about what you put on the wall and make sure it’s worth your time.

Also, when you decorate your classroom you should think about all age ranges and all students who walk through your door.  As a man, I am constantly reminded to think of how I can keep my classroom gender neutral.  I don’t want to fill the room with fluffy poof balls, pinks/purples/teals, stuffed animals, and cutesy clip art.  While none of those things are inherently gendered, it may appeal to one segment of a class over another.  I don’t want anything I put up in my classroom to turn off any group of kids be it boys or girls.  That doesn’t mean putting up “football themed” stuff to balance out the “fairy themed” posters.  It doesn’t mean getting rid of all cute pictures or poof balls or streamers either.  It just means that we need balance.

I also want to think about what ages are coming to my classroom.  Last year my room had to accommodate kids from Kindergarten through 8th grade.  I really had to be intentional so that primary grades felt welcome and encouraged in the room and that middle schoolers didn’t feel like the room was too “little kid” or “cutesy.”  This is one of the reasons that the music room decor sets I create and use in my own classroom are not themed.  I create colorful and engaging visuals for each of these sets, but they are not themed around any particular place or idea (ocean, fairy land, safari, etc.)  I link the decor sets together with a color scheme and similar pictures of clip art kids, but I try and stay away from anything too gender-specific or age-specific.  There’s nothing wrong with those themed decor sets but again, think about balance and every kid who walks in the door.If you look at your classroom and think, “OMG, I am living in a pink, poof ball, Precious Moments classroom,” don’t go and pull everything down.  Just think about what’s appropriate for all students at all ages and remember:  “Cute is Cute, but Content is King.”

I hope that this blog post has given you some ideas and encouragement.  Remember, these are just suggestions and ideas about how to set up your classroom so that students succeed.  Nothing in here is a MUST DO RIGHT NOW!  In fact, I’m constantly changing my room through the year to give it the optimal look and design.  Just keep thinking about what benefits students the most as you set up, make modifications, and move forward into a great year!