What’s more exciting for students to walk into class and see classroom transformations? Whether it’s every table having a new activity or table setting, mood lighting, or fun decorations, students appreciate a change in their regular classroom routine. Building excitement for a new unit or lesson helps your students buy into the skills that you want to teach them and those activities will hopefully leave a lasting impression on them. Maybe you have seen fantastic classroom transformations on your social media and want to do one yourself. However, the thought of planning, creating, and executing such a transformation might seem intimidating. If you want to transform your classroom but do not know where to start, check out my steps for a successful classroom transformation.
Before we get started, can I ask? Do you struggle with teaching literary analysis to your students? Do you feel like you are missing key information to help improve your students’ writing? Are your essays just not where you want them to be? Have you repeated the same information over and over again just to have students miss major parts of their essay? If you can relate to any of these questions, then friend I have just the thing for you! Check out my FREE Literary Analysis Essay Writing Teacher Toolkit! In this FREE resource, I give you everything you need to transform your students’ writing without having to rewrite all your literary analysis essay lesson plans. If you want to learn more, check it out HERE.
My Classroom Transformation
Our Taylor Swift Midnights Party
One of my favorite classroom transformations has been for Taylor Swift Midnights album. I love Taylor Swift and this October she released her tenth album Midnights. I wanted to take a day to celebrate her new album but I didn’t want to lose instructional time. Our next unit of study was rhetorical analysis and the art of persuasion. I decided this classroom transformation would be a great way to start our rhetorical analysis unit. Here’s how I transformed my classroom.
Taylor Swift Persuasive Activities
Now that I had a focus for my lesson, I created my lesson activities. The most important activity was focusing on Taylor Swift’s Anti Hero song lyrics. Students learned the characteristics of an anti hero first. I provided background on this song explaining that Taylor create their own Anti Hero of themselves. If you want to snag this activity for yourself, check out my Creating an Anti Hero activity.
After learning about the anti hero, students also had the chance to debate who is the better singer Kayne West or Taylor Swift. Students are very passionate about their love or dislike for Taylor and since Kayne West and Taylor Swift had a feud, it was a natural way to allow students to share their arguments and provide cited sources. Students also submitted their favorite Taylor Swift songs to then vote for the Top Ten Favorite Taylor Swift songs. Students shared their reasoning for their favorite songs and helped to create a ranked list. Finally, students created their own Midnights album list. Swift shared that this album is about 13 sleepless nights in her life. I challenged students to create a list of 13 songs that represent the hard and amazing nights of their life. For participating in each activity, students each received a Taylor Swift vinyl sticker as a reward.
Taylor Swift Classroom Transformation Design
Finally, I chose my theme for the classroom transformation. Since the album is called Midnights, I went for a stars and moons theme with black and gold colors. I normally have lights hanging in my room but they needed to be replaced anyway so I changed my overhead lights to star-twinkle strands. I also added star garlands throughout the classroom. I even created a Midnights photo backdrop. (Keep reading below for links to all my materials.)
Steal My Taylor Swift Midnights Classroom Transformation
Love my classroom transformation? Check out everything I used in my classroom below.
Decoration List
- Star Twinkle String Lights
- Drop Ceiling Hooks
- Black & Gold Decorations
- Black & Gold Stars Garland
- Taylor Swift Sticker Pack
If you want to see how I transformed my classroom, check out my Instagram reel.
CLICK HERE to check out my Creating an Anti Hero activity. This activity was a great way to start off our day because we listened to Taylor Swift music and analyzed the lyrics. Students also loved getting to create themselves as an anti hero.
If you are feeling inspired by my own classroom transformation, check out my steps below for how to easily and quickly create your own classroom transformations.
Classroom Transformation Ideas and Steps
Step #1: Design Your Themed Lesson Plan
The first step is to decide what lesson you want to use as the basis of your lesson. There are some things to consider when choosing a lesson. First, if your lesson lends itself to a theme easily then that’s a great choice. For example, introducing a new short story or novel is always a great place to start. You can recreate the setting of the story in your classroom. Another great option is to think of a lesson that is really engaging for the students and decide if you could add to it by adding some decorations to set the mood for the activity. Finally, the opposite approach is best. Think of a lesson that is not very engaging and think of a way to create excitement. For example, the first day of writing an essay, you could create a writing bootcamp and transform your room into a military base. The most important part is incorporating a room transformation into a lesson that you already teach so you are not starting from scratch or lose instructional time.
Step #2: Choose Your Classroom Transformation Themes
Once your lesson has been chosen, it is time to determine your theme. You want your room transformation to clearly show your students how it connects to your lesson. You also want to determine what your design will look like. By mapping out your transformation ahead of time, you will be able to decide how much time you want to spend to recreate your room. You can do a complete transformation and not spend more than an hour transforming your room. Creating new table setting, adding streamers or images around the room, and designing a dramatic entryway can really surprise your students and still not take up hours of your time.
Step #3: Gather Your Classroom Transformation Materials
Now that you have a plan, start collecting your materials. While I love the convenience of Amazon, you may not want to spend too much money on your transformation. Post on your social media what you are searching for and see if people in your area have what you need to borrow. If you plan ahead, you can wait for sales and deals for certain materials. Think decorations, costumes, and lights after Halloween and Christmas. Plus, once you do the transformation, you can save the materials for the next year if you want to repeat the transformation with your students. Once you have a few room transformations that you complete, you will have an idea of what you want. That means you will always be on the outlook for materials for your lessons.
Step #4: Create Hype for Your VIP Event
An important step in this process is creating hype around your event and transformation. Starting about a week before you want your students to get an inkling about what you are doing. Create invitations on theme, post sneak peeks, or even do an unboxing with your kiddos of your supplies. The more mystery and excitement you create, the more your students will buy in. If your school allows you to bring in snacks, ask your students to bring in refreshments that are on theme. For example, for our Taylor Swift Midnights party, our tasty treats theme was “Things You Binge Eat at Midnight”. The kids loved this ideas because they could bring really anything in that they were craving!
Step #5: Transform Your Classroom
You have your theme, design, and materials. Now, it’s time to transform your classroom. I recommend staying after school so that no students see you working on it and you will have more time to commit. Recruit former students or your colleagues to help you so you don’t have to do some much work yourself. Thanks to our design and planning, the room transformation should not be too time consuming. The point is to set the mood and create excitement so it does not have to be perfect. Set a time limit for yourself and stick to it. You may not use all of your idaes the first time, but you will learn what works for next time.
Step #6: Surprise Your Students with Your Classroom Reveal
Finally, the best part is the classroom transformations. Have music playing, close your door and get ready. I like to act as a bouncer on these days and allow students to enter one by one. This small act makes it even more exciting because students have to wait to see what’s inside. My favorite part is seeing my students’ reactions and excitement for something different. Any small change in the regular schedule is a fun interruption for students. Plus, you are making their learning more engaging and their buy in to your class will be much greater. Small things that show you care really make a difference with our students.
Ways to Create a Mini Classroom Transformation
Upgrade Your Digital Space with a New Theme
If you are short on time or not feeling very creative, a great way to add a little surprise is to transform your digital space. Almost every classroom utilizes digital resources, so take an opportunity to add a new theme, color, fonts, or images. When students log on, they will be greeted with a surprise and it will create excitement for your lesson.
Transform One Special Area of Your Classroom
Maybe you aren’t ready for a full room transformation but you want to do something for your students. Create a special space related to your lesson that changes up your classroom. You can create that dramatic entryway. Next, create a display in the middle of the room. Maybe create a top secret area in the corner that you reveal at some point in your lesson. Students will love seeing something new and want to know more.
Do Something Outside Your Normal Classroom Routine
If you don’t want to spend money or too much time, a simple way to transform your classroom is to just adjust your routine. Maybe relocate for the day’s lesson, invitie a guest speaker in, or have a fun activity or game that is not something you would normally do with your students. Remember the point of these transformations is to engage your students, not show off your Pinterest worthy classroom. These simple solutions can bring excitement without too much time or effort.
More Classroom Transformation Ideas
The best part about a room transformation is creating an experience for your students. Remember, you can skip going over the top to complete your transformation. The goal is to take your lessons that you already teach and just add a little razzle-dazzle to them. If you are excited to create something new for your students, please share with me your classroom transformations. Furthermore, I am always looking for new ideas to use with my students. I know you have fantastic classroom lessons and I can’t wait to see what you do!
If you would like to start with a classroom transformation that has already been done, feel free to snag my Taylor Swift Midnights room transformation. Just go back into the post to see all the activities that I use with my students and the materials I ordered for my classroom.
If you love Taylor Swift as much as I do and want to use the lesson that formed the foundation of this transformation, check out my Creating an Anti Hero resource. In this lesson plan, students will use the inspiration of Taylor Swift’s new song “Anti Hero” to distinguish what makes an anti hero and learn how to create their own. In this print or digital resource, students will first learn about the definition of an anti hero. Students will then use Taylor Swift’s “Anti Hero” to identify the character flaws she lists in her song. Finally, students will create their own anti hero analyzing themselves. This resource can be used with any story with an anti hero. Whether it’s Taylor Swift or another awesome idea, I know you are going to create fantastic classroom transformations for your high school students.
Ready to take your literary analysis writer’s workshop to the next level?
Teaching how to write a literary analysis essay can be tough. If you want to simplify the writing process for your students while making sure you don’t forget any steps, then this toolkit is made for you!
Click HERE to learn more!