Graffitti Tells a Good Story Too!

Today I considered my dry erase board and its clutter. It was crowded with student graffiti. When I would go to erase their notes, they would beg me to stop. To tell you the truth, I was worried that administration would walk through and comment on my busy board; it could be considered distracting to the learning environment. Again, it was hard to tell what the daily agenda and benchmark is/ was because of all of it. These notes were special to me and to them; there had to be a way to preserve them! There had to be a solution.

I decided to take my camera and take photos of my classroom board. I then erased it. I put a large post-it up on the board for them to make new praise notes. I told them that I had preserved their notes and that they would see them on my Education Blog that is linked to my school website. I told them that I would save their notes and add them to my thank-you and dedication wall in my teacher’s closet.

By the end of the day, I saw more and more notes on the post-it. It touched my heart. It also showed me that my students truly care about me, they cherish me, and they appreciate me! They know I care about them! Honestly, there are days I have to be so tough on them and say and do what they need that I wonder why they care about me. I am often reminded by them that I could do like many teachers have done in their past and turn my back on them and let them fall through the cracks. I am not perfect, but I think the graffiti tells a good story. I am happy to know that I am making a difference! This bond that we have makes them work harder. This equals better student achievement and scores!