It’s that time of the year when students get ready to join school after enjoying an eventful summer vacation. It can be overwhelming for students to change their routine. Getting a grip on the new syllabus can make it even more difficult to cope with this change.

Hence, it is essential that teachers make the session interesting and interactive. Bulletin boards are a medium that keeps students updated about ongoing classroom activities, and allows them to post their ideas at the same time.

Here are some ways in which teachers can use bulletin boards to make the curriculum more interesting for students going back to school.

• Interactive displays: The best way to make bulletin boards more interactive is to correlate the display with the curriculum. You can create a ‘reader’s choice’ section on the bulletin boards where students can answer a question posted by teachers. It is an interactive way to know students’ opinion on a particular topic or a subject.
• Choose the location wisely: The position of these bulletin boards is the key to grab the attention of students who are coming back to school after a long summer break. Teachers should place these bulletin boards in those areas where most students gather and socialize. Multiple themes and displays are a great way to make the bulletin boards more interactive.
• Ask students to participate: Students feel more involved and competent if they are allowed to participate in what goes onto the bulletin boards. Students can learn a lot from the choices they make. Hence, it can be a good idea to allow them to give inputs.
• Book recommendations: This is yet another way to encourage students’ participation in the classroom. Students going back to school can share book recommendations by posting it on bulletin boards.
• Bulletin boards with questions:  You can ask students to frame questions related to the topic they have studied and post them on the bulletin board. Teachers can answer these questions at the end of the day and ask students to discuss and give feedback on the same. Students will feel encouraged to read more about the topic and ask more questions.

Interactive bulletin boards can be an effective and powerful teaching strategy as it can generate excitement about the subject by displaying its content creatively. While you do this, try not to clutter the bulletin board and make it big enough to cover every aspect of the curriculum.