As this blog post grows over time, I plan to share with you my ideas on creating bulletin boards of impact all year by working smarter and not harder.
Confession: I love coming up with ideas for bulletin boards, but who has the time to change them every month? I honestly don’t, but my students are always more than happy to help me make it happen.
Before I start sharing ideas, let me share with you some quick tips.
Tip #1 - Don't Do It Yourself, Get Trusted Students to DO It!!!
Again, don’t do it yourself, get two trusted students to do most of it for you. I literally only came up with the ideas and my two students are always in charge or bringing my visions to life!
Tip #2 - Use Fabric Instead of Paper as a Background for Bulletin Boards
Go to Walmart and see what solid color fabrics they have on sale. This is usually where I purchase my fabric for very low prices. I have fabric pieces in different colors that I have used throughout the last five years. It is so much easier to work with fabric than with paper.
Tip #3 - Use the Bulletin Board with a Purpose
I know this seems obvious, but I have seen many bulletin boards without purpose. When it comes to high schoolers, a good bulletin board can have great impact.
Your purpose can be
- Inform about your program
- A news bulletin board
- Feature students’ work
- Recruit for upper levels
- Promote a cause
- Inspire
The list doesn’t end there but those a some ideas.
Powerful bulletin boards are appreciated and is worthy of staying on the wall for an entire year or longer as students and faculty will not get tired of seeing it!
Bulletin Board Idea #1 - Raise Mental Health Awareness
I used the ENCANTO posters created and shared by @affirmationsandaccessibility and made them into smaller images using a slide deck to create this beautiful bulletin board to spread awareness of mental health in my school.
If you would like this bulletin board, here is what you will need:
My Google slide deck to save you some time , print each page in color and laminate it.- I sent a student to the media center to cut the letters using the school’s Ellison Die Cut machine.
- A black background (paper or cloth).
- I selected this beautiful flower border because it goes with the them of Encanto.
- I also added the gorgeous 3D golden butterflies, which also makes the board stand out and it goes with the Encanto theme .
- Don’t forget to add a handwritten translation for each of the Spanish messages so that your entire school can understand it…even those who do not take Spanish!!!
, print each page in color and laminate it.
.Bulletin Board Idea #2 - Promote Your Classes and Your Programs
I have one bulletin board assigned outside my classroom, and this by far, my go to bulletin board idea! You know me, I am all about the simple, practical, effective, and time saving.
I wish I could have found the photo of my last bulletin board similar to this one. It would have been a much better example, but I don’t think I took a picture of it, and I quite can’t forgive myself for it yet.
So, here is how I make this attention grabbing bulletin board for high school Spanish class happen.
There is one thing you must do throughout the semester and that is to make sure you get spontaneous pictures of your learners in action. I do that a lot already but if I am too busy, I assign a trusted student to take pictures of my learners with my phone during X, Y, or Z activity. I understand that not everyone will be comfortable with that, but that is how I manage to capture so many images of my learners throughout the years.
Once you have the photos, all you will need is a border and a solid fabric (or paper) background. You can either cut out a phrase like “Welcome to our classroom,” “Bienvenidos a la clase de español,” or “¿Qué hacemos en la clase de Español #,” etc. Center it and then simply place all pictures in random places.
Below you can see what a simple version of this bulletin board looks like…and yes, a picture is worth a 1000 words.
When parents, admins, and students see this bulletin board, they can get an idea of what my classes are like. This bulletin board certainly helps to promote my program without any words.
Last semester, I had QR codes as well in the mix that led people to see videos of my students in action. It was a hit too!
I do a bulletin board like this at the start of each semester as a tribute to my previous students.
My students from last semester are so eager to see themselves in the new bulletin board soon.
Consider trying a simple bulletin board like this one! You won’t regret it!
Bulletin Board Idea #3 - Support Your Learners' Language Acquisition Journey
The Creative Language Class is one of my favorite blogs for world language teachers of all time!!!
This blog was created by Kara Parker and Megan Smith and they have amazing posters and many other resources available to you for free.
That is where I downloaded my proficiency bulletin board printable. You can check out that blog post with the free printables here and you will be able to recreate your own proficiency bulletin board.
I can’t wait to see yours!!!
The first time I printed these proficiency printables was around 2015. I set them up as a long line on the top of my wall as recommended on their blog. I realized the printables really helped me at to articulate the learning targets so much better.
Two years later, I decided to switch from a line on my wall to a bulletin board. This bulletin board is inside my classroom.
I have had this bulletin board since 2017! I never change it and I reference it every year numerous times…too many times. It is so useful!
My students also have learned to reference this bulletin board to guide their goals and to challenge themselves. For this reason, my board isn’t leaving my classroom any time soon.
Love your bulletin boards! Where did you get the colloquial expressions + graphics that are above the proficiency board?