Classroom

Display
 Reasons for Making Displays

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• merely decorative
• develop the skills of teachers in display techniques and
use them effectively for educational, management and
other purposes
• enrich or reinforce what is being taught
• can include information for students
• set the scene for a new teaching topic
• part of some ongoing work
• provide students with something extra to do
• part of record keeping
• communicate to others what the class is doing
• stimulate and create interest
 The Display of Students' Work

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• deserves special consideration and needs to be
approached sensitively

• celebrates effort, as well a perfect work

• helps students appreciate their own work and

the work of others
• students' names be visible

• students' involvement - with the teacher's

supervision
 The Display of Students'Work

The reality is…

“We set standards by the environment we

offer to children” (Dean, 2001, p.197)
 string walls windows

publications ceiling corridors

r oom d t o ps
staff cupboa r

another school public places

Display Surfaces
principal's office table
shelves
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 Some Miscellaneous
Classroom Display Tips

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 Full walls do not
mean they are
well decorated.
It is something
else

• Relevance of display
• Coherence of display (create a theme/motif)
• Organization of display

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• Change displays regularly, to maintain
interest and freshness
• Displays need maintenance. Keep up running
repairs if things come loose or damaged or
untidy.
• Think about the eye level of students,
including when they are seated. This should
influence the height of displays.
• Give displays titles/captions
• When you visit other schools and
classrooms, look out for good display ideas.

• Search the Internet for classroom display

ideas and help.

• When preparing titles and labels for

displays, measure carefully the space
where these titles are to be placed.
• Learn from the past and from others.

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 What about harmonizing colors
in displays?

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• Use contrasting
colors for
display.
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 dark over light

 light over dark

• decide on a scheme for the alignment and
arrangement of display material. if display
items are of different sizes, they can be
aligned along a top edge

Example Layout
or a vertical or horizontal line of symmetry
 alignment tip:

Use yarn and do not

rely on your visual
sight in aligning
the display

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•

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 Border effects
• Double mounting display material can add greatly to its visual impact

Double mounting

Picture

Outer
mount Inner mount
Background
• stick narrow strips of contrasting colored
paper
• borders for the display area itself can
also be created using repeat motifs
 What about the
text?
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• Text (i.e. quotes, labels or titles) should
be legible even to the last person seated
at the back row
 Do picture
displays come
easy to you?
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Some tips:

1. Create an overall theme

2. DIY (Draw It Yourself).
Can't draw? Seek the help of
Mr. Publisher
The Power of Display:

“This is the way we do things around here”.

 Quote
“Those schools that have books falling off the
shelves, with books laid on top of other books,
some with ripped covers, others with pages
falling out, give the visitor a clear impression of
the school, and the culture”
“Classrooms have personalities just
like people.”
-63 Ways of Improving Classroom Instruction
(Gary Phillips and Maurice Gibbons)
 - end -

References:
A Classroom and School Display. A Guide for Teachers and for Teacher
Training by Dr. David Smawfield. 2006

Morrow, L. M. (1990). Preparing the classroom environment to promote

literacy during play. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 5, 537-554.
 What did you do?
• Did you make a lay-out plan?
 Agree on the background
 agree on the colors to apply on the characters
 Agree on the colors of the text
• What color combination/s is /are applied?
• Is the quote legible even to the last person in the line?
• Is the placement of the letters straight? How did you get a
straight line? (or the opposite)
• Did you provide a breathing space on the display board?

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