Published: April 23, 2008

Best Practices: Rethinking Bulletin Boards

From time to time, the Teacher Leaders Network daily dialogue turns to the seemingly mundane details of everyday teaching. Even so, there are surprising twists and turns, as was the case during an in-depth discussion of the venerable classroom bulletin board.

Carolann, a teacher leader with a joint school district-higher education appointment, began the discussion with this query:

I come to you once again for a reality check. As I begin to plan for this semester, I was wondering how much emphasis to put on bulletin boards with my pre-service teachers. In our elementary partner schools I see word/vocabulary walls. I see steps and procedures. I see visual support. I see behavior-management systems at work. Sometimes I see student work displayed. The...