If you haven't heard about Pinterest, or are just too confused about it right now to try it, read on! I want to explain Pinterest and why it can be a useful tool for your classroom.
What Is It?
Pinterest is basically a series of virtual corkboards onto which you can "pin" ideas. One of the fabulous things about Pinterest is that it's online, so no matter what computer you're on, if you have access to the internet, you have access to your boards! I know for sure that there is a Pinterest app for iPhone, too, so people with Apple smartphones can take their Pinterest boards and ideas with them wherever they go. Also, anyone can see your Pinterest pins, and you can see everyone else's. I know that sometimes that "no privacy" thing stinks, but in this case, it may be a good thing. Users can browse pins in whichever category they choose and "repin" to their heart's delight. Not being limited to only yours and your friends' ideas has made this website the prime site for creative inspiration.
How Does It Work?
When you log onto Pinterest, you have a profile, much like you do on Facebook or any other social networking website. Your profile contains all your boards, which contain all your pins. You get to decide how many boards and pins you have, what you name your boards, and what pins you place on each board. Pinterest users have already pinned thousands of great ideas onto their Pinterest boards, and you can access their ideas by either "following" their boards or doing a search across ALL boards in Pinterest. You can "repin" others' ideas and/or add your own new pins from whatever website you want.
If you're trying to add a new idea to Pinterest, you'll type in the URL (or use the special "Pin It!" button that you can place in your internet window's toolbar), select a picture from that page that you'd like to use to best capture your idea, and pick the board onto which you'd like to pin it. You canalso upload your own pictures. It really is that simple!
When you create a board, you have the option of making the board one where only you can contribute or opening it up to the public so that anyone can contribute to it. Be aware that there is currently no "private" option, though, so don't pin anything you wouldn't be comfortable with others seeing!
How Do I Use It In the Classroom?
Personal Use -- You can use Pinterest to make your teaching life easier! Pin all those teacher-blogs you've been following. Pin all the bookmarks you've got saved and visit regularly. Pin classroom pictures. Pin lesson plan ideas. ...Are you getting how versatile Pinterest is?! I have been able to pin SO many fab teaching ideas from other educators on Pinterest. It really does make life easier! In case you'd like to see 'em, here are my classroom boards:
- Decorations
- ELAR
- Gifts
- Holidays
- Management
- Math
- Miscellaneous
- Organization
- Science and Social Studies
- Technology
I used to clump all classroom-related ideas into one board labeled "classroom." But I found SO MANY ideas that I wanted a way to organize it more efficiently. So now, I have several classroom Pinterest boards.
Student use/resources -- You can actually incorporate Pinterest into classroom projects and activities! Here are the ideas I've found (or imagined) so far:
- Ask students to collect ideas/pictures about something in particular that you're studying. Maybe your kindergarten students are studying the letter "a" and will focus on collecting as many "a" items on their personal Pinterest board as possible. Maybe your secondary English students are studying hyperbole, and they need to collect as many real world examples of hyperbole on their board as possible. The beauty of Pinterest is that you can use it to pin anything, so no subject is off-limits!
- Pin boards full of examples for students to access at home or during class.
- Pin boards full of educational YouTube videos.
- Pin boards full of quotes for bellwork or journal writing.
- Pin boards full of images for bellwork or journal writing.
- Pin boards full of images to act as anticipatory sets. You could project them in class with the click of a couple buttons, and students can even comment on them to start a discussion.
- Create a collaborative board and allow ELAR students to pin images of books they liked or would like to read.
- Create a collaborataive board and allow science students to pin experiments they'd like to try.
- Create a collaborative board and allow history students to pin historical figures, events, and monuments they'd lik to study (or are studying).
- Create a collaborative board and allow math students to pin images of careers that use math (to answer the age-old whine of, "why do I hafta knoooowwww this?")
- Create a collaborative board and allow technology students to pin images of tech tips, tools, or websites that might be useful to everyone in the class.
- Create a collaborative board and allow music students to pin the images of their favorite artists or albums.
- Create a collabortive board and allow art students to pin images of their favorite artwork...or upload their own!
- Create a collaborative board and allow students to pin images of subjects they'd like to study in any subject!
- Create a collaborative board and allow students to turn in assignments...? I'm not sure about the logistics of this one, since I know every student would be able to see every other student's work. So, obviously, this wouldn't work for exams. But book reports, projects, presentations, or little homework assignments might work. Since there would probably be no images available, students would need to take a screenshot of their work and then upload it to Pinterest with the link to their actual work and their name at the bottom of the pin.
- Create a collaborative board and have every student add the pin that connects to his/her online portfolio. It would be an easy way to keep track of everyone's portfolios, and students could check out other student's portfolios for inspiration or motivation.
- Create a collaborative borad and allow students to pin images of things they're interested in...it might be interesting to have links and visual reminders of how to connect with students. (It might be easier to make lessons relevant if, say, I understand that Hannah Montana is out and The Biebs is in!)
- Students could take advantage of the Apple iPhone app for Pinterest by using it to snap pictures of things in their day-to-day lives and pin them to a specific board. For instance, let's say that your kindergarten class (the one that's studying the letter "a") has a classroom set of iPod touches and a school-wide wifi connection. Why not send your students on a scavenger hunt for all items beginning with "a"? They could work in pairs or teams and walk the school grounds with the Pinterest app open. When they see an "a" item, all they have to do is snap a picture of it with the built-in camera on the app, and add it to the appropriate Pinterest board. When the students come back to class at the end of the hunt, the teacher can access the boards on her computer and project the results on the wall for everyone to see and analyze. OR you could make it a competitive scavenger hunt and give each pair/group their own board!
- Ask students to collect and organize information for, say, a research report. Let's say the students are studying Egypt and must write and present a report over Egypt to the class on x date. Why not use Pinterest to organize ideas? While surfing the web, students could pin useful articles and detailed, accurate pictures onto their Pinterest board. There's no more bookmarking tons of websites or writing down URLs on paper. Users can access Pinterest boards from any electronic device with internet capabilities, so their research is saved and accessible in a variety of places outside the walls of the school. In the event that a resource doesn't have a picture (a requirement for a pin), just take a screenshot and upload it!
- For group projects, group members can share ideas via collaborative Pinterest boards.
- Twitter user @teach46 suggests using it for getting-to-know-you activities! I love the idea of students collecting images that tell me (and fellow classmates) more about their individual personalities, family life, hobbies, interests, etc!
- Twitter user @teach46 also suggests having students pin their personal goals. It would be interesting to have such a visual image of goals at the beginning of the year, and it could it updated whenever the students find a new goal and/or cross off one on the list.
- Another idea from Twitter user @teach46: use Pinterest in the ELAR classroom by having students create character charts that represent their favorite character in a novel they're reading! I really love this idea, too!
- Track extra credit points. For instance, I had an on-going extra credit opportunity in my secondary English class last year. My students were able to earn 2 bonus points every time they brought in a picture or example of something we'd learned in class. If the students had been paying attention, they would've realized they could've earned infinite bonus points in this because examples of our lessons were EVERYWHERE in public! Any time they saw a vocabulary word, author, concept, literary device, etc. that we had studied, they could earn bonus points. My catch was that no two people could present the same example; the first student to get that example to me was the one who got the points. If you had a collaborative Pinterest board (perhaps labeled "Extra Credit" or "Real Life Examples"), students could post those examples to the board and write their name in the description in order to claim the points. Other students would then not only know what examples had already been presented, but they would also be able to access all these real world examples and see how that subject pertains to life outside the classroom walls.
- Go to www.Pinterest.com.
- In the middle at the top, there's a big, red button that says, "request an invite." Click on it.
- Enter your e-mail address into the text box and click "request invitation."
- You should get an invitation to Pinterest in your e-mail's inbox very shortly (if it doesn't happen, e-mail me and I'll send you a request!).
- Click on the link in your e-mail to activate your account. Once your account is activated, you can begin!
- In the top, right corner of your Pinterest home screen, you'll see three options. The left one will say "add," the middle one will say "about," and the right one will say your name. Click "add." A pop-up will appear that gives you 3 options: add a pin, upload a pin, or create a board. If this is your first pin, you'll want to create a board.
- Give your board a name and select a category for it. If you want this to be a board only you can pin to, mark yourself as the only contributor. If you want the public to be able to add any pin to this board, mark "me + contributors." Click the red "create board" button, and you're done!
- Once you have a board (or two), you can begin adding pins. You can use the "add" button on the top, right corner and click "add a pin" or "upload a pin" when you find something you'd like to pin.
- Check out Pinterest's Help section for more concise instructions! :)
- Click on your name (in the top, right corner of the page) and "settings" to adjust the settings.
- If you have questions, please leave me a comment and I'll see if I can help you!
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