How to Create a Bump It Up Wall | Ninja Style

Written by Alison Smith

Updated 5 years ago | 4 min read

A Bump It Up Wall is a visual display what provides explicit learning goals for students to work towards and a progress tracker for both teachers and students. It is a motivational platform.

Get ready for espionage, deception and surprise attacks.

Our new ninja-themed Bump It Up Wall for writing is the perfect addition to any classroom, particularly the upper years.

Our Writing Ninjas Bump it Up Data Wall Display is sure to be a firm favourite with your students.

Why Should You Create a Bump It Up Wall?

Bump It Up Walls combine visual learning with formative assessment. Also, they are a great motivator for students when they are used in the right way.

There are multiple reasons why you should create a Bump It Up Wall in your classroom. A Bump It Up Wall is a fantastic teaching and learning tool for:

setting specific learning intentions
visible learning
goal setting
tracking student progress
assessment for learning
student self-assessment.

It’s a Research-based Approach

Research has shown that there are 5 key strategies to successfully implementing formative assessment:

sharing explicit learning intentions
questioning students about their learning
giving students regular feedback
student self-assessment
peer assessment.

Dylan Wiliam outlines five key assessment strategies and how they interconnect. For more information on the roles and relationships of teachers, learners and their peers I recommend reading Dylan William’s book, Embedded Formative Assessment.

Ninja-Themed Bump It Up Wall

Our Writing Ninjas Bump it Up Data Wall Display includes everything that you need to create a ninja-themed Bump It Up Wall. Use this teaching resource in the classroom as an effective way to set student goals and providing feedback.

Firstly, you need to print, cut and laminate each component. Next, find a spot in your classroom to create a display. This teaching resource includes:

We’re Aiming High display banner
ninjas for each student to move up the ancient wall
learning intention template
success criteria template (option of four different levels)
cute characters to assign to different levels of achievement
display decorations.

It also includes templates to monitor the writing process – plan, draft, edit, publish. Simply create a second name label for each student and encourage them to move their name along as they progress through the stages.

Learning Intention and Success Criteria

Deciding on a specific learning intention and clear success criteria can be tricky. So, spend a bit of time working this out. You may even choose to get your students involved in decision making.

When it comes to deciding on a learning intention, ask yourself – what do I want my students to know, understand and do by the end of a learning period or unit?

The learning intention should be the basis for tracking student progress. Furthermore, it’s the basis for providing feedback and assessing achievement. In addition to learning intentions, your students may also have individual learning goals.

Success criteria are the measures used to determine how well your students have met the learning intentions. The success criteria usually reflect steps that present increasing levels of complexity.

For more information on how to write a learning intention and success criteria read Holly’s blog How to Create a Bump It Up Classroom Display.

How to Set Up A Bump It Up Classroom Display

There’s no right or wrong way to set up a Bump It Up Wall. However, it is important to consider how it’s going to make your students feel. Let’s face it, it feels great to be a the top and pretty lousy to be at the bottom. So, consider setting up your wall horizontally.

Setting up a horizontal Bump It Up Wall helps to avoid the perception of lower and higher achievers in the classroom.

I also love the idea of removing the name label from the ninjas. But how will you identify who’s who? Simply give each student a black and white ninja and ask them to personalise their character by colouring it in.

So whichever way you choose to set up your Bump It Up Wall, be sure to have a classroom discussion about individual differences and personal goals. Above all, have a class discussion about the importance of supporting each other.