Bulletin boards. You might totally love them or totally hate them. You may love the process of putting them up, but hate the end result. OR, you might hate the process, but love the result. Or, you might put up the bulletin board paper and leave it blank until a colleague is tired of it and slaps something up for you. However you slice it, when you get down to it, bulletin boards add a special aspect to teaching. We know visuals are important, based on various studies. We also know that time is precious. You just might not have the TIME to keep changing bulletin boards. You also know the length of a student attention span. If you don’t call attention to what is on the board and never change it, it languishes like the dust bunnies behind the piano. If you have several bulletin boards, are you wasting your time keeping the information fresh?
Why not create interactive bulletin boards? OK, I don’t mean interactive like virtual or digital, but bulletin boards that can be utilized daily. If you are lucky to have a board outside of your classroom, you might possibly recruit colleagues or parents to contribute. Here are some ideas:
- Use an hall bulletin board for advocacy. For instance, you can have a bulletin board about music opportunities. During Open House, ask parents if they would be willing to share their music experiences. A superpowers bulletin board? Give them a cape graphic to write their activity and initials and put it up. A news-themed bulletin board? Parents can send in newsclips or other artifacts that show their activities. Students could put up their musical accomplishments outside of music class. Do a “Did you Know” bulletin board and ask teachers to write a short paragraph or two of their favorite music moments. Ask students to bring in news clippings (or printed from the Internet) of music and musician news (make sure the information is appropriate for school).
News-themed hall bulletin board. Students can clip up news articles or pictures/programs of their other music activities (like piano recitals) |
- If you have a large enough bulletin board in your classroom (or even a large section of wall), use it as a target achievement gauge. When I taught, there was a large old green chalkboard in the back of the room. Teachers were required to put up their daily targets. Honestly, that’s a pain for those teachers like us who see multiple classes. In addition, I had taken an Orff masterclass where the instructor, Christ Judah-Lauder (who is a wonderful person) talked about discussing targets afterward.
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- Use interactive bulletin boards for concepts. I have used interactive bulletin boards as a measure of vocal assessment/motivation, understanding of solfege and intervals, and for musical elements. I’ve also used it to gauge Recorder Karate progress.
Melody Mountain solfege bulletin board to the right
- Use them for social-emotional learning. Use your bulletin board for exit tickets. I used a bulletin board entitled “Musical Greats”, and the kids would use Post-It notes or repurposed worksheets to write down their music successes. Music successes don’t have to be musical. For instance, a child who has anger management can write that they counted and use breathing when they felt they would be upset. It’s a great acknowledgement of all the emotional and mental phases a person goes through to be a good musician AND a successful participant in society.
But……I don’t have bulletin boards!
You can use:
- Posterboard on a cart
- An old chalkboard or whiteboard you don’t utilize
- A large sheet of bulletin board paper on a blank wall (even in the hall)
- Display cork strip
- Window shades
In the back, window shades are used to display action words. Students use those for creative movement |
Do you have great interactive bulletin boards you use? Feel free to send me a picture with information (your title and last name, state you are in), and if I display it in an upcoming blog post, you will get a $10 Amazon gift certificate.
Interactive bulletin boards in my TPT Store: