Cues From a Coach: Anchor Chart Overload?

In October, I had the privilege of attending the Coaching Institute at Columbia Teacher's College in New York City. The amount of learning that occurred during the week I was there was incredible! My brain literally hurt and I was exhausted by the end of the week. I left Teacher's College with a full notebook, mind, and heart. Many of my future posts will include some of my learning.

One idea I took away from my time at Promise Academy II in the Harlem Children's Zone was the idea of dedicated wall space for anchor chart for core areas. As we know, anchor charts build a culture of literacy and provide a space to keep relevant learning accessible for students. Sometimes, in classrooms, I see an overabundance of anchor charts and I'm distracted from the work by the massive amount of charts hanging in the room. Other times, there are no charts at all. Even in rooms with what seems like an appropriate amount of anchor charts with meaningful information, they are haphazardly hung on whatever wall space is available.

The teachers at Promise Academy shared that they dedicate wall space for anchor charts for a couple reasons. First, it provides a set location for students to look to when it's time to refer to an anchor chart. Second, it actually limits the amount of charts on the wall because you can only put up as many charts as will fit in the space. Therefore, teachers decide which charts are most meaningful and useful for students and make only those visible. Others are stored away and brought out when needed. To make the learning environment even more organized, many teachers at the Promise Academy organize their supplies and manipulatives in areas under or near the anchor charts. For example, math manipulatives are housed on a shelf under the Math anchor charts. Brilliant!

Here are some pictures from Promise Academy.