“My junior year, when I first walked into Ms. Gilliam’s classroom it was really cozy because she keeps the lights really dark and she has fairy lights. She keeps a lot of posters and students’ past projects on the wall, so it really felt like her room,” said Hanna Lin (‘24).
Students often observe the things around the classroom—the windows, the doors, and everything that might be on the walls. Teachers and students alike have their reasons as to why they do or do not prefer decorations in a classroom environment.
“I decorate my classroom because I think it gives more interest to the room for the students and for myself,” said physics teacher Karen Porter-Davis.
Teachers who decorate their classrooms may have materials to help students learn, make the room more inviting, or just for the fun of the decoration itself.
“The screaming goat [decoration] is for me, I thought it was funny. I think that everyone else finds it annoying. But everything else is pretty much for the students,” said social studies teacher Gregory Valley.
Upon entering a classroom, most students see a variety of posters, student work, and artwork covering the walls of the classroom. However, some teachers prefer for their classes to not have a lot of decoration.
“It’s nice to sit in a pretty class, no doubt. I guess it’s just not conducive to a [good] learning environment. For me, I go more with the functionality than being pretty, but I still try for it to still be aesthetic,” said math teacher Lior Burko.
Other teachers aren’t sure of how to approach decorating their rooms.
“[I don’t decorate] because it takes a lot of time and I don’t really know what I would put up. I don’t have any really good ideas [for it],” said AP Seminar and AP Language teacher Holly Ingram.
Some students feel strongly about the presence of certain color schemes in their classrooms.
“The colors bright red and neon green don’t really match well with a bunch of numbers—I really can’t take it,” said Zeniya Jordan (‘26).
While some find certain color combinations to impair their focus, others are distracted by classrooms that are too bare.
“[A lot of] math teachers barely decorate, and it makes the classroom super white. It hurts visually because the lights are also white, and it feels like I’m at the hospital. I don’t really like that,” said Monserat Olivera (‘24).
Some students get distracted by classroom decorations, causing them to lose their focus.
“I enjoy looking at [the decorations] which is the reason why I don’t like them. They make me a little distracted,” said Jacqueline Perez Perez (‘25).
Other students find that classroom decorations help them to learn and stay focused.
“[I do prefer decorations in a classroom] because it makes the class more engaging and exciting to learn,” said Marley Forshay (‘24).
Overall, the classroom environment is more than just a room where students learn from their teachers—it’s an atmosphere that the teachers create to encourage learning.
“In sixth grade, I remember Mr. Valley had so many decorations in his classroom regarding United States history, and it was so cool to see how passionate he was because he kept his former students’ projects,” said Olivera. “I feel that he inspired [us to] make our project so good that he kept it.”
