How to Run a Gallery Walk in Middle School ELA (Without the Chaos!)

You’ve heard of gallery walks—but what do they actually look like in a middle school ELA classroom?

Why are gallery walks so great? Why should you even try this method of instruction in your classroom?

Let's talk about it!

My #1 reason to use a gallery walk: It gets students moving around the classroom. They spend way too much time in those chairs zoning out. 

Need more reasons? Gallery walks get students thinking and discussing at a deeper level and they can be used with any topic, subject, or learning objective!

Let's dive deeper and talk step-by-step for how these things work.

• Choose your topic or theme (example: horror or character analysis).

• Create stations.
• Stations can be student-made or teacher-made. For teacher-made, my favorite way to do it is to find photos/images/memes that relate to my topic, print them out, and hang them around the room on the walls.

• Assign or rotate groups.
• This might be the toughest part of gallery walks: CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT. How do you want them to walk around the room and look at the images/posters/etc.? They can cycle around in groups or individually.
• Things to consider...
• Do you want them discuss during the gallery walk? If so, set a noise level expectation. 
• Do you want them to WALK (not run, play, skip, etc.)? Set the expectation.
• Do you want them to walk a certain direction around the room? Model it.

• Provide a simple recording sheet.
• Do you want them to make general observations, answer specific questions, etc.? If it's your first time doing a gallery walk, I recommend specific questions to guide their thoughts.

• Debrief as a class.
• Once they have observed and recorded thoughts, come back together and share! 

• Collect notes or do a ticket-out-the-door with some gallery walk reflections. 
• Be sure students know you're checking on them to keep them accountable (even if you don't really grade it).

Pro tips from a teacher who has lived and learned from some gallery walks (yours truly):

• Manage time with music or timers.
• Online Stopwatch is my fave but there are lots of options out there.
• Let them know how long they have for each image/poster.

• Use post-its for quick peer feedback.
• I may have a sticky note obsession... but it works great for this kind of thing! Have them stick thoughts on the wall next to the image/poster.

• Keep expectations clear.
• I can't say this enough. Explain your rules for this and model, model, model!

If you want a ready-to-use gallery walk that students love this time of year, my Thrill of Horror Gallery Walk has everything prepped — prompts, handouts, and directions. You can literally print and go.

Do you have pro tips to share or questions about how to do a gallery walk in your classroom? Comment below or email me directly at ms.t@talbertscurriculumcorner.com.