Being Conciously Aware of the Walls in our Clasrooms

This past weekend I had the "joy" of taking the West-E which was administered at a high school.  After being congregated with everyone in a general area we were eventually directed and split off into classrooms where we would eventually take the test.  Once entering the room and finding my seat we had to wait about 20 minutes or so until we could actually begin the test.  While I waited I began to scan the room and imagine that I was a high school student taking a class in this specific classroom.  I could very clearly see that the classroom had a focus on Literature.  There were posters on the wall depicting people reading and or famous authors.  I even noticed a textbook off to the side that had Literature in the title. 

As I sat there and tried to envision myself as a student in this classroom it actually made me kind of sad.  The classroom was extremely dreary and had no sign of life.  There were about 14 posters on the wall and each one looked like it had been there since the late 80's to early 90's.  What I noticed most, other than the fact that the classroom in general felt dirty, lifeless and an inadequate learning environment, was that 13 out of the 14 posters had pictures of white males on them.  There was one poster that was of Maya Angelou.  1out of 14 posters was a picture of a woman of color.  There were no other visual representations of women or people of color.  This made me wonder what the students that sit in this class everyday, who are not white males, feel about their inclusion in this classroom and subject. 

I believe, with my whole heart, that as teachers we should be aware of not only what we teach verbally but of the non verbal messages we send as well.  To create a classroom environment that is truly inclusive we need to be conscious of what we put on the walls of our classrooms.  Children are, as we all know, extremely perceptive and as teachers I find it imperative that we take every opportunity to make all of our students feel included.  What do you plan to put on the walls of your classroom?  How important do you feel the physical classroom environment is to you future students' learning?