Since I am not an elementary school teacher, even though at times I wonder, what do high school teachers do with their bulletin boards? Sure you can tack-up posters about literary terms. Naturally, you could post student work. Of course, you can include schedules, make-up work and calendars. I have found that using these bulletin boards as a source to study a text, gives students a quick, and obvious, cheat sheet as we read a novel.

In addition to a poster about the text, there are some great ones at Teacher’s Discovery, I find pictures of main characters. Now, depending on if a film has been made or not, this search can be easy or difficult. Either way, finding a picture of some one who looks like the characters provides students a foundation to build that visual storyline in their heads.

Along with these main characters, I do include a list of secondary characters. Above, is my board for Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. There are so many characters in the book, and each one of them is mentioned repeatedly at some point in the novel, so I included a list of characters and their relation to the Finch family. To help clarify the three main families of Maycomb, I also included not only a list of family members, but a description of the other families, like the Finch’s, the Cunningham’s and the Ewell’s.

Depending on the main writing assignment, I may or may not include themes to be posted on the board too. I did this for Romeo and Juliet and 1984 - see below. The board not only helps my students, but I am reminded to refer back to these themes during study of the text. This repeated connection helps them understand, and hopefully, master the required material.

From time to time, I even post the elements of a story for a novel. So, yes, I do follow the triangle diagram that includes exposition, setting, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. Again, this provides a good reminder of these terms along with having them actually “see” how the story unfolds each of these elements as we read.

I do find my students referring to them during class time, and yes, I do cover them up during a quiz or test. But...sometimes I don’t. It just depends on my kids.