Open Forum

I've got a lot of bare walls in my classroom (my room is also a performance space, so I've always resisted doing anything too "classroom-y" with them and instead gone the more understated neutral space route--always undermined by my desk area---yes, I am "piler."  It is my organizational strategy of choice.)

But now I'm toying with turning one wall into something of a shrine to the new national standards.  (I've softened on my earlier "neutral doctrine" and awakened to the fact that it is a classroom after all, and maybe it's not so terrible, in this social climate, for parents and community members to come in and see that there is rigorous, standards-based learning happening in this public space.  (Also, we've gotten pressure in the last couple of years to post daily an essential question and were given dumb dollar-store white boards to post them on--stupid for myriad reasons including that fact that they keep falling apart and how is anyone supposed to see them in a big room AND who wants to keep erasing and writing?  I really do love the essential questions from the NCCAS standards--I'd venture to say that they are my favorite part of the standards and that, if a teacher was inclined to grab hold of only one thing from the standards, that teacher would be wise to hold fast to these.  I figure no evaluator--and it is the high stakes evaluation process that we are answerable to in 2015, right?--can fault me if I have these permanently posted.)

I'm wondering, has anyone else endeavored to take on a similar project?  I'm not talking about the kind of posters I've received attending EdTA conferences.  These are graphically lovely and informative, but they are meant to be viewed up close, and I'm dreaming of something that can be read across the room. I am certainly computer-savvy enough to figure out how to print large the items I'm thinking about (Possible inclusions: The four artistic processes of creating/performing/responding/connecting, the anchor standards, the theatre-specific essential questions, and, perhaps, the enduring understandings), but I'm not above borrowing from/building on someone else's efforts.  It'd be amazing if there were some graphically beautiful large-scale posters that could adorn a classroom wall based on these standards.

Happy to invent the wheel, but reluctant to re-invent it,

Ryan

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Ryan Moore
Theatre Teacher and Forensics Coach
Ferndale MI
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I've also wanted to do this but have very limited wall in the black box classroom.  We had to make "Thinkers" posters in each department showing how students should draw inferences, ask questions, visualize  in English, Math, Science etc.  I attached the one I made for Theatre.  I started with the National Core Art Standards Essential Questions and then had my department chair say boil it down to student friendly language and came up with the the poster that is attached.
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Tom Skobel
Theatre Teacher and Director
Lake Zurich High School
Lake Zurich, IL
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-13-2015 19:02
From: Ryan Moore
Subject: Classroom Posters Derived from NCCAS Standards?

I've got a lot of bare walls in my classroom (my room is also a performance space, so I've always resisted doing anything too "classroom-y" with them and instead gone the more understated neutral space route--always undermined by my desk area---yes, I am "piler."  It is my organizational strategy of choice.)

But now I'm toying with turning one wall into something of a shrine to the new national standards.  (I've softened on my earlier "neutral doctrine" and awakened to the fact that it is a classroom after all, and maybe it's not so terrible, in this social climate, for parents and community members to come in and see that there is rigorous, standards-based learning happening in this public space.  (Also, we've gotten pressure in the last couple of years to post daily an essential question and were given dumb dollar-store white boards to post them on--stupid for myriad reasons including that fact that they keep falling apart and how is anyone supposed to see them in a big room AND who wants to keep erasing and writing?  I really do love the essential questions from the NCCAS standards--I'd venture to say that they are my favorite part of the standards and that, if a teacher was inclined to grab hold of only one thing from the standards, that teacher would be wise to hold fast to these.  I figure no evaluator--and it is the high stakes evaluation process that we are answerable to in 2015, right?--can fault me if I have these permanently posted.)

I'm wondering, has anyone else endeavored to take on a similar project?  I'm not talking about the kind of posters I've received attending EdTA conferences.  These are graphically lovely and informative, but they are meant to be viewed up close, and I'm dreaming of something that can be read across the room. I am certainly computer-savvy enough to figure out how to print large the items I'm thinking about (Possible inclusions: The four artistic processes of creating/performing/responding/connecting, the anchor standards, the theatre-specific essential questions, and, perhaps, the enduring understandings), but I'm not above borrowing from/building on someone else's efforts.  It'd be amazing if there were some graphically beautiful large-scale posters that could adorn a classroom wall based on these standards.

Happy to invent the wheel, but reluctant to re-invent it,

Ryan

------------------------------
Ryan Moore
Theatre Teacher and Forensics Coach
Ferndale MI
------------------------------

I've got a lot of bare walls in my classroom (my room is also a performance space, so I've always resisted doing anything too "classroom-y" with them and instead gone the more understated neutral space route--always undermined by my desk area---yes, I am "piler."  It is my organizational strategy of choice.)

But now I'm toying with turning one wall into something of a shrine to the new national standards.  (I've softened on my earlier "neutral doctrine" and awakened to the fact that it is a classroom after all, and maybe it's not so terrible, in this social climate, for parents and community members to come in and see that there is rigorous, standards-based learning happening in this public space.  (Also, we've gotten pressure in the last couple of years to post daily an essential question and were given dumb dollar-store white boards to post them on--stupid for myriad reasons including that fact that they keep falling apart and how is anyone supposed to see them in a big room AND who wants to keep erasing and writing?  I really do love the essential questions from the NCCAS standards--I'd venture to say that they are my favorite part of the standards and that, if a teacher was inclined to grab hold of only one thing from the standards, that teacher would be wise to hold fast to these.  I figure no evaluator--and it is the high stakes evaluation process that we are answerable to in 2015, right?--can fault me if I have these permanently posted.)

I'm wondering, has anyone else endeavored to take on a similar project?  I'm not talking about the kind of posters I've received attending EdTA conferences.  These are graphically lovely and informative, but they are meant to be viewed up close, and I'm dreaming of something that can be read across the room. I am certainly computer-savvy enough to figure out how to print large the items I'm thinking about (Possible inclusions: The four artistic processes of creating/performing/responding/connecting, the anchor standards, the theatre-specific essential questions, and, perhaps, the enduring understandings), but I'm not above borrowing from/building on someone else's efforts.  It'd be amazing if there were some graphically beautiful large-scale posters that could adorn a classroom wall based on these standards.

Happy to invent the wheel, but reluctant to re-invent it,

Ryan

------------------------------
Ryan Moore
Theatre Teacher and Forensics Coach
Ferndale MI
------------------------------