Any Place I Hang My Hat: Painting and Decorating!

Our classrooms have needed a paint job since we arrived here over a year ago. Kids had written and colored all over the walls, and it continued to get worse throughout the year. I hated it because it didn't feel like a creative environment to me. I had to put lots of things up to cover as much of the horrible walls as I could. When we talked to our boss about painting the walls last year, she said that we shouldn't paint them, and that they would hire someone to do it. Apparently people in Korea don't paint things themselves; they almost always hire someone else to do it. Well, no one ever came to paint our walls (we weren't surprised), so finally we just took matters into our own hands. We bought paint and paint supplies, and on two separate Saturdays we spent the day painting our walls a very light beige color. I loved watching the writing on the walls disappear, and felt renewed by the fresh, even color. It made such a huge difference! Our boss was very surprised and happy, especially because the school didn't have to pay for any of it. :) We didn't mind, though; we are really happy with the results! It's definitely not perfect, but it looks SO much better! After the paint dried, we put up our calendars and decorative wall stickers of trees and maps of the world. Also, I put wall paper along my window ledge because the previous wall paper was all torn up. The kids love the changes! Now I think our classrooms inspire more creativity from our students.

Before...