Saturday, September 20, 2014

30 Day Reflection: To Display or Not to Display

This is the 20th day in a 30 day challenge from Teach Thought.

Day 20: How do you curate student work--or help them do it themselves?

As a high school teacher, curating student work has been a struggle, quite honestly. Unlike my elementary teacher friends, I did not get the bulletin board making gene. Seriously, how do you guys do that?

Over the years, I have tried putting work up on my little bulletin board in my classroom, but I struggle with how to make sure each student is represented. It's hard to rotate through 170 or more students in a year. And, if you think high school students don't notice or care when their work isn't displayed, you are wrong.

When I became a regular Twitter user, I started taking photos of student work and displaying it on my account. That can get a little sticky, though. I have to make sure not to capture my student's face or their name since some of their parents have signed technology display forms and some have not. The only way I can find out that information is to jump through a lot of hoops. And, I just don't have the patience for it. Remember, I am a high school teacher. We tend to get prickly about bureaucracy. 

At the beginning of the year, I started a class Weebly page and I have been posting pictures of student work there. Again, I have to be careful about faces and names. And, I have to remember to post the pictures, too.

This year, corkboard strips are going to be placed in the space between the ceiling and the lockers outside of my room. I requested this at the end of last year, so I am hopeful that by Thanksgiving I will be able to display student work more easily. Plus, it's just a corkboard strip, so there isn't the pressure to create a cutesy bulletin board.

I would love to hear what other high school teachers do to curate student work.  

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