Five Ways Schools Benefit From Wall Talkers

Educators who haven’t heard of "wall talkers" might cringe at the idea of letting students write all over classroom walls. However, using these writable surfaces in the classroom can be a great way to build community and increase student learning while creating a beautiful, dynamic educational environment.
Shift the Focus
In a standard classroom, teachers are typically stuck orienting their classroom based on where the instructional board happens to be. With writable walls, teachers can post instructional and procedural content all around the room and adapt as needed depending on the instructional focus of that given day. Instead of "coming up to the board," students can work out math problems or brainstorm writing during independent or group work time with or without teacher direction. This approach can be especially effective for students who perform better without an entire classroom’s eyes on them. Teachers can later draw attention to the student’s work, or simply erase it and leave room for the next pupil. Writable walls can also offer greater opportunities for visual learners, who benefit from having plenty of rich surface area to look at while they learn.
Build Community
Opening up the classroom walls for student work and spontaneous teaching moments can help students build community. Writable walls require plenty of explicit teaching about the procedures needed to keep surfaces clean, which can foster respect for classroom materials and the classroom community at large. Instead of only showcasing final, polished products, students will learn to support one another’s artistic process and learn from their peers at every stage of the learning game.
A Culture of Collaboration
The very nature of writable walls invites participation, which means greater engagement and collaboration in the classroom. The connection between writable walls and increased learning is just starting to emerge, but it’s already clear that implementing this tool will empower students to get used to sharing their work and ideas with classmates. By fostering a culture where students are comfortable sharing ideas (and wall space), schools can model the kind of mutual respect for the ideas of others that is so vital to the collaborative learning processes. Students will get to know each other better, not only through social interactions and down time, — such as lunch or recess — but also through viewing and appreciating one another’s academic work and creative process.
Simplify Cleanup
Walking into a classroom of beautiful instructional posters is a lovely experience, but what about taking everything down in June? The flexibility of writable walls means teachers can populate their classroom with relevant content for each unit; then easily press the reset button with a few minutes of erasing. With the help of students’ work, teachers can totally transform a room’s appearance after a single busy brainstorming session, which creates a more active classroom. Students will be more engaged when they are actively participating in the creation of their learning environment, and teachers can skip the messy glue sticks and construction paper.
Beautification
For teachers used to a traditional classroom a room full of blank walls, wall talkers may seem a bit cold at first. Get those walls talking with brightly colored markers, and feel free to decorate the borders with student doodles, quotes or other fun add-ons that encourage students to share a bit of their personality. Before long, the room will be a warm, bright place filled with artwork, writing, math and science observations. The possibilities are only limited by the curriculum, and the class’s imagination.
A fun, relatively easy way to make a room shine while drawing students in deeper to a culture of collaboration and academic pride, a writable wall or two — or four — can promote powerful positive change in the classroom.
Steve Fountaine is the owner of Premiere Works, a Washington-based general contractor that offers an array of commercial contracting services for schools.