If Walls Could Talk: The Power of Images in the Classroom
By Michelle Favin
Do you remember the posters on the walls of your seventh grade classroom? For me, there is one image that remains clear. It was that image of a tiny kitten hanging off a branch with the words, “hang in there” below its head. I would often catch myself staring off during a lesson, daydreaming about this helpless kitten. Did it make it? Did it hang in there?
As humans and as learners, our attention to information is flawed. Lessons can be engaging and environments can be thoughtfully designed, but we are bound to become distracted, especially in this smartphone era. Without our little screens, our eyes and minds wander towards our surrounds; we gaze at the posters on the walls, glance our peers around us, or peek out the windows.
We could pause here and discuss teaching strategies and room designs that lead to increased engagement. What would prevent a learner from breaking focus? Would walls with less clutter dissuade learners from being distracted? For this blog post, I am more interested in the power of the peripheral elements in a classroom. When we do let our eyes wander, what do we see and what messages do we perceive from the images on our walls?
“If anything, it confirmed an existing belief that my traditional public school experience was meant to be tolerated, not inspirational.”
Images as Primers
When I think back to that kitten poster, I think about the message it sent me on a daily basis, particularly on days I felt bored or unmotivated. I am sure my teacher meant no harm by the image. At face value, the kitten is adorable and the image, created in the 1970s by photographer Victor Baldwin, was intended to motivate and lighten the mood. In that classroom, though, it did not re-engage me in my Algebra lesson. If anything, it confirmed an existing belief that my traditional public school experience was meant to be tolerated, not inspirational. That school should feel difficult. That I should feel like the kitten, hanging on by a thread as papers and assignments mounted. It was an unconscious cue to just get by.
Social psychologists have termed this effect of stimuli on our behavior in social environments as “priming.” Daniel C. Molden, a social psychologist at Northwestern University, writes that certain cues, such as posters on walls, can act as primers that influence a “host of impressions, judgements, goals and actions,” which are often time “outside of people’s intention or awareness.” Intentional or not, I was processing that kitten’s message every moment I sat in class, whether I was staring at it or not.
Priming for Equity and Justice
When I think back to the walls of my elementary, middle, and high school classrooms, there is another image that remains clear. Or rather, the lack of a certain image. As a woman of color, I remember staring up at photos of people like Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, and Jane Goodall, and admiring the inspirational quotes by their sides. However, I somehow felt unable to relate to them, internalizing that their level of genius must not be for someone like me. I remember seeing the work of people of color during specific times during the school year. They were transient installations, seen only during Black History Month or Cultural Appreciation Day. What message did that send to me and other students of color?
There’s a famous study on priming that I often think about. In the study, college-age students are exposed to words related to old-age, such as “old”, “gray”, and “Florida”. After the study, the psychologists found that the people who were primed with these words actually walked slower than the students who were not. There has been some controversy about replicating this experiment. There has also been debate about the transfer of these experiments into real life. However, it is hard to ignore the potential power of exposure and representation in the classroom, particularly during the adolescent development stages that unfold during the K-12 years.
“The writings — and images — on our walls have profound subliminal impacts on our learning experiences.”
As learners mature, they begin to explore their personal sense of self and identity, building or losing confidence in their possible life paths. The writings — and images — on our walls have profound subliminal impacts on our learning experiences. When these messages are embedded in white, privileged, upper-class culture, how does that affect the behavior of our students of color? How does that affect the behavior of all of our students? Even if the messages displayed are positive at face-value, are there underlying implicit messages that we might not intend?
Equity and Justice Priming in Practice
I was struck most recently by the positive power of priming on a recent tour of Meridian Academy, a small private school located in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. While Meridian is a private school, over 40% of the students receive substantial financial aid packages, which leads to a diverse range of race and class represented in the classroom. Walking into the school, you immediately see student artwork exploring social justice covering the walls. On the windows of the main staircase, there are three large signs reading “Black Lives Matter.” In a humanities classroom, there is poetry and art created by students expressing emotions about the recent police brutality against African-American men. There are posters of Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, and Malcom X.
After visiting the school, I spoke with the Head of School Joshua Abrams about the significance of the art on his walls. Recently, students have chosen to study feminism and racial equity as part of their curriculum. Reflecting on the school culture, Abrams says “we all think today matters” and the art on the walls is a strong reflection of this sentiment.
We may not be able to draw direct correlations between these spatial cues and the actions of Meridian’s students, but the relevancy, energy, and urgency of the messaging is palpable. At Meridian, learners have the freedom to engage with the social justice issues of our era, surrounded by a space that either inspires, reflects, or supports these discoveries. It is worth noting that the majority of the work on the walls is created by students. No mass-produced kitten posters were found.
Freedom and Responsibility in Classroom Design
As teachers, we hold the opportunity to co-create tiny worlds with our students. We build, poster by poster, painting by painting, environments for our students to learn and thrive in every day. Yet this freedom to create comes with great responsibility to be intentional and responsible with the messages we display.
Here are few questions that help guide me when designing the walls of a learning environment:
- What messages do the words or images on your wall carry? What do you your students think the words or images on your wall carry?
- How are the posters on your walls culturally relevant and accessible to all of your students?
- How do you display student work? Whose work do you choose to display and why?
- What would the walls look like if your students were to design them?
Michelle Favin is the Content and Community Manager at room2learn and an M.Ed. candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
