Science Bulletin Boards

By Zemen Marrugi, M. Ed.

As a classroom teacher, I am always interested in creatively displaying my students’ work. Here are three different types of Science bulletin board I created for my classroom that you may find helpful to use in your classroom. Remember, productive bulletin boards catch the students’ attention with a colorful and original layout, engages them in the content and proudly affirms their individual work.

I designed this bulletin board to creatively display a cross-curriculum assignment I had my students work on in Reading and Science.

I painted this full wall display in the hallway because I wanted all of the students in the grade level to predict what our next unit was going to be about in Science. Needless to say, they were not only on point with the predictions, but also very enthusiastic about the content we were going to learn.

I made this bulletin board at the beginning of an ecosystem unit. The display was a great way to remind the students the important role photosynthesis played in the environment.

Self-Efficacy

By Zemen Marrug, M.Ed.

After last week’s Presidential Debate, there were a lot of people that got offended at the thought of anyone criticizing President Barack Obama’s debating skills.  However, the truth is that President Obama did not bring his A-Game to the platform and I am so glad to hear him poke fun at his own debating skills because it shows that he, too, has high expectation on himself and is prepared to grow as a leader.

This is a great example of self-efficacy because having high expectation on ourselves is more vital than any hope anyone else has for us.  To truly succeed, we must always be open to constructive feedback- no matter how good we think we are at our craft. We need to always aim high, but at the same time, be willing to look at our abilities and honestly answer the question, “How can I improve my own skills?” After all, having a goal set will lead to many disappointments if we are not willing to accept the idea of growth from every experience.

Self-efficacy is what drives a frontrunner to lead million through journeys unimaginable by others. So, whether you are an average Joe, an elementary school teacher or the President of the United States of America; everyone should be willing to self-evaluate his or her own skills and always be willing to grow and soar to new heights.