Clutter in the Classroom

Addressing Distractions and Eliminating Old Decorations

Jan 8, 2009 Michael Streich

The best teacher New Years resolution seems to be confronting the built up clutter in many classrooms since the start of the school year and the resolve to do better.

The mid-school year is a good time to take inventory of the classroom. By January, clutter begins to build up. Old student projects and posters fill the nooks and crannies of the room. In many cases, the walls are still filled with bulletin boards and other paraphernalia put up during the weeks before the school year started. January should be the time to clean house: replace dated posters, maps, and other hangings. Discard old projects and create a new atmosphere conducive to the spring semester. It’s time to address the clutter in the classroom.

Start with the Teacher’s Desk

By January, many teachers' desks are covered with stacks of notes, lesson plans, notebooks, text books, personal items, magazines, and a dozen more items that seemed important eight weeks ago. Teachers always expect organization from students, but seldom set good personal examples judging by the clutter found on most desks.

Eliminating desk top clutter achieves several beneficial goals. Teachers feel a sense of psychological well being sitting behind an uncluttered desk. Students react to teacher organization by endeavoring to maintain their own notes, portfolios, and course materials in a more organized manner. Additionally, it is difficult for a teacher to berate student sloth if there is no leadership model to follow. It all begins with the desk.

Classroom Walls and Bulletin Boards

Posters and pictures hung on classroom walls in August may no longer be relevant. Some teachers, sadly, fill so much wall space with visuals that changing the many items can become a major project. Too many visuals can also serve as detrimental distractions, hindering the learning process. Teachers need to ask the pivotal question: to what extent does a particular poster or picture enhance the learning process in the classroom.

Similarly, motivational posters or phrases can become “old.” When students become accustomed to once meaningful phrases, the message in those phrases, unless periodically updated, becomes trite. Strong challenges and motivational phrases require rewording and reinventing in order to maintain the potency of the message.

Impact of a Cluttered Classroom

Does clutter in the classroom impede learning? It doesn’t require formal studies to conclude that any type of clutter impacts student focus and attention. Students with special learning needs, those suffering with ADHD for example, might find classroom clutter a greater obstacle to overcome in terms of learning. One teacher with classroom walls full of colorful posters and signs exclaimed that the room was an “ADHD nightmare.” Such situations should be eliminated. Most wall hangings seldom contribute to student learning anyway.

As the school year continues, January is the appropriate time to begin spring cleaning of classrooms. Ideally, no classroom should ever devolve to a situation whereby such cleaning becomes essential to on-going learning. Yet as the school year continues unabated, classrooms begin to be filled with all kinds of papers, notebooks, projects, and student work. Coupled with bulletin boards overloaded with memoranda and notifications, the classroom is no longer fully serviceable.

The Clean Desk – Briefcase Policy

Like some businesses, schools can adopt clean desk policies that stipulate no uncompleted tasks are left on a desk for the next day. Similarly, working from a briefcase ensures that no work piles up and all matters are handled in the timeliest fashion, including student homework and other assessments. Teachers will balk at this, but if mastered, it will save teachers time and energy.

Clutter in the classroom turns off administrators, parents, and students. Although it might attest visually to student performance in the case of student projects, clutter always sends the wrong message. January is the time to implement a teacher’s resolution: no more clutter!

The copyright of the article Clutter in the Classroom in Teacher Tips/Training is owned by Michael Streich. Permission to republish Clutter in the Classroom in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Messy Desk

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