Decluttering Your Classroom (2024)

Key points

• Learning environments need to support high-stakes activities where every moment counts.
• Clutter reduces focus and makes people less productive and more irritable. It can be especially distracting for students with overexcitabilities
• Reducing clutter has been shown to increase on-task time and improve test scores.

Although the school year has yet to end, classroom teachers are already thinking of how their classrooms will look and function best in the next school year. They are smart to give the matter their precious time, as learning environments need to support high-stakes activities where every moment counts.

According to Princeton University researchers, workspace clutter limits one’s ability to focus and process information, rendering people less productive and more irritable (McMains & Kastner, 2011). Clutter can be especially distracting for students with overexcitabilities (Rankin, 2016), and removing it has been shown to increase on-task time and even improve test scores (Morrison, 2015), which comprise one type of measure of learning.

Meanwhile, enriching one’s environment can lead to a 25% increase in brainpower (OWP/P Cannon Design & Mau, 2010) for students and their teachers. For example, in one 3,766-student study, simple changes to classroom design accounted for 16% of a student’s yearly progress (Barrett, Zhang, Davies, & Barrett, 2015).

The following decluttering and redesigning strategies can help teachers reimagine their classrooms to promote learning, peace, and joy (Rankin, 2022):

• Consider Marie Kondo’s KonMarie Method for removing clutter one category at a time rather than by one area at a time.
• When Barrett, Zhang, Davies, and Barrett (2015) studied classroom-benefitting design, a natural feel (things like hourly air-outs and a cool but comfortable temperature, etc.) brought the most benefits, with a steady stream of natural light being the most powerful. Even removing blinds or opening windows can help learning.
• Peruse the free resources (by setting the “prices” filter to “free”) on Teachers Pay Teachers.
• Determine which classroom items help students most and remove those that are less effective. Do the same with consideration for what helps the teacher.
• Don’t just post words of encouragement for students. A HuffPost survey of 1,000 American adults revealed that 52% of the public feels teachers are underappreciated (YouGov, 2015). Post quotes that will inspire teachers as much as students and prune displays that feel overwhelming.
• Pass on little-used visuals and supplies to newer teachers, teachers who are also looking to change up their classrooms, or even students.
• Colors impact classroom activities; for example, calming yellow can assist learning, whereas blue can encourage collaboration (Morrison, 2015). (Learn more here.)
• When posting student work, don’t overlook items that were never assigned. When teaching junior high school, I called the bulletin board beside my desk my “board of love” and covered it with drawings and sweet notes students had given me. Students loved this, and it was a constant reminder of the love we shared.
• Savoring small victories in which you made a difference in students’ lives has been shown to help guard against burnout (Skovholt & Trotter-Mathison, 2011), so post things like a news article on your students’ science fair win, or a fundraiser photo of your students.
• Gain funding for new class items through sources like DonorsChoose or Fund for Teachers.

When summer relieves teachers, they will need those months to recharge from a taxing profession. Then they’re faced with the high-intensity task of prepping when the new school year swiftly arrives. With curricular and pedagogical decisions requiring so much attention, it can be hard to also give our surroundings the attention they similarly require. However, any time teachers can spare for their surroundings can help them.

References