Full disclosure here: I am not a decorator. I don’t do cutsy anything. Aside from the fact that my perfectionism would take over and I would generally hate what I put up, I also refuse to dump cash into stuff I have to put up and tear down every year and in the grand scheme of things doesn’t make a huge difference to the majority of students in my class.
HOWEVER
I do believe in the power of simplicity and powerful messages.
In my core beliefs I believe that every student has the capacity for physics because inquiring about the world around us is an intuitive piece of our humanity. The AAPT put together a brochure on “Myths about High School Physics” more than a decade ago. Needless to say, it was in need of a major update, and the result is beautiful. (You can access them here) When you download the file you get 6 high resolution images you could theoretically print in any size you like. I maxed them out on regular printer paper and arranged them on my door as shown
Adjacent to my door display is my alumni wall. Around October/November I reach out to former students who are in college and I ask for their school, major, favorite physics memory and advice to rising students. I think both of these are really important to have up in the room before parent teacher conferences because it’s certainly worth talking about!
I’m really excited because I mentioned this to our academy/career coach and together with the graphic design teacher they are going to create some beautiful posters featuring all of our alum all over the building!
Another great idea is that these look REALLY great next to the career profiles students generate as part of the STEPUP careers in physics lesson plan! And if you want to know how that fits into the scope of my class, check out my post Three Ideas for a Strong Start
Physics.Teacher.Momma. 