During my summer travels out to Cottonwood, Arizona, I visited with a very dear friend of mine. She took me on a tour of her church to show me what things they were doing in their children’s departments. They definitely had prepared a wonderful, inviting environment for children and their parents, even in the hallways.

I’m always interested in hallways when I visit schools. Most educators neglect this prime real estate that can and should be used for promoting the school’s mission and happenings. If done right, I believe hallways can immediately interest visitors in what is taking place at the school. As educators and administrators, we must ask ourselves, “What are our hallways saying about us? Are we boring? Outdated? Uninterested in the community?  Doing nothing?”

This church had a little school on the same property, and the teacher of art there had the students create paintings of the days of creation.  She then framed each of these and beside each hung a small framed write up from the Bible about that day of creation.

creation-artwork6 creation-artwork5

creation-artwork3creation-artwork7The presentation was really quite impressive and showed the value the church gave to what the students in their school were doing.  It was also helpful that each write up contained a copy of the painting for easy reference.

03-IMG_0411

It’s easy to hang student’s work up with tape or push pins, but after seeing this impressive display, I feel personally challenged to find more quality ways of presenting my students’ work this year. I’d also like to think of a project that I can turn into a more permanent display. Any ideas?