From Static to Active: Reigniting Your Learning Wall

What happens if no one is using our learning wall?

You’ve set up a learning wall. It’s purposeful, rich with wonderings, student thinking, and curriculum connections. But then… crickets. Perhaps it’s because you’ve been consumed by other tasks, you and your learners have stepped away from the vertical space for a well deserved term break or you find yourself doing too much of the heavy lifting and are exhausted by just “one more thing”?

If your learners (or even you!) aren’t naturally gravitating toward the wall, don’t panic. A learning wall doesn’t have to be static or only for the “engaged” moments. Think of it as a tool to spark curiosity, reconnect with ideas, and keep thinking visible—even if that means intentionally reintroducing it into the learning process.

Here are some practical ways to re-engage with your learning wall:

1. Use It to Reengage After a Break

After a weekend, a holiday, or even just a day away, the learning wall can act as a jumping-off point.

• Ask: “What were we wondering about before the break?”

• Invite students to do a gallery walk and leave sticky notes with new ideas or connections.

• Use it to ground a morning meeting or opening circle: “What do we notice? What feels new now?”

Tip: Students may see connections they didn’t notice before with fresh eyes.

2. Use It as a Provocation

Turn the wall into a thinking catalyst for next steps in meaning making.

• Invite your class to revisit an early artifact and their “first thinking”, then prompt them to share new reflections based on the learning you’ve engaged in with one another. Ask, “How has our thinking changed over time?”

• Highlight a question or quote: “What does this make you think about now?”

• Encourage students engaging in discourse and feedback by using artifacts on the wall to support their conversations. Lift up specific academic language or co-constructed rubrics as additional scaffold of support.

This invites learners to rethink and re-enter the learning from a new angle.

3. Revisit the Wonder Wall: “Now What?”

If you have a section of the wall for student questions or wonderings, it’s time to go back to them.

• Ask: “Which of these questions have we explored?”

• Then: “Which haven’t we touched yet?” or “Has our thinking changed?”

• Use sticky notes or string to connect questions to recent learning.

• Invite students to group similar questions and identify themes.

This helps students synthesize, reflect, and co-create pathways forward.

Bonus: You can tie this directly to curriculum goals—turn their questions into learning targets or inquiry focuses

If your learners don’t naturally gravitate toward the wall, bring the wall to them. Invite them back in. Think of it as a lived-in, co-constructed space and one that can be rejuvenated at any time. With a little intention, it can bring deeper thinking and student agency back to the surface.

Your call to action? This week, choose one small way to reintroduce your learning wall. Use a question, a reflection, or a quick class conversation to shift the energy towards something a bit more active. It only takes one mindful move 😉

More soon friends!