Over the past few years, the teachers at Larned High School have put in an effort that goes above and beyond to create a welcoming and exciting environment for their students. This is shown in how they decorate their classrooms. The Tribe Times recently held a mass online interview with students to find out which teachers have the best-decorated classrooms according to the students’ views and opinions.
Based on the survey, it is clear that Mrs. Steinlage was the favorite among the respondents, with almost half of them voting in her favor. Coming in at a close second was Mrs. Pontius, while Mr. Keith secured the third-place position in the voting.
This is Mrs. Steinlage’s first year as the Larned High School Spanish teacher and has made her classroom one of the most colorful and festive rooms. Students of all ages responded to the survey saying how much they love her room. Sophomore Jasmine Evers stated “Her room is very colorful and organized” while Aspyn Kingsbury, a freshman at LHS stated “She sets her classroom in a spot that intrigues you. When you think you have seen everything you always end up finding something new.” During an interview, Mrs. Steinlage said, “I wanted to be sure that my classroom started out the way that I wanted my students to feel. I hope that the room provides the students an area that they feel welcome and comfortable in.” Overall, Mrs. Steinlage is an amazing teacher who believes in her students’ success, while doing everything she can to help them get there.
Mrs. Pontius is the art teacher at LHS and one of the student’s favorite teachers. Mrs. Pontius has past students’ artworks hanging all over her wall, not to mention the gorgeous senior-painted ceiling tiles that continue to change each year. One respondent, Temperance Donocker, said, “She is an awesome teacher and her room screams masterpiece!” Isabella Bailey also responded to the survey saying “Mrs. Pontius has the best decorated classroom. My favorite aspect of it, though, is its collection of painted ceiling tiles, which are incredibly fascinating. The tiles show past seniors’ thinking, feeling, and valuing during their last year at LHS.” When asked why she tries to make her room colorful and welcoming, she stated, “I want the kids to feel welcome to create when they enter the room. I have a lot of different types of art on the walls so I think that might make them feel included and comfortable. If these walls were just white, stale, and blank it would be very boring and almost feel like a prison.”
Mr. Keith is both a freshman English and English four teacher. Last year, Mr. Keith decided to make one of his final project options to decorate the ceiling tiles of his classroom according to one of the scenes from a book or story that the students had read as a class that year. Sophomore Leah Pinkston stated “I painted a ceiling tile in Mr. Keith’s class last year, and I really enjoyed it. As well as getting kids excited, I feel that the younger classman will be more interested in the books by seeing the tiles painted about them.”
Overall, these teachers have done a great job at making their classrooms colorful and exciting and we can not wait to see what they do next.
