Pinterest Uses
I am in love with Pinterest! I discovered Pinterest my first
year of teaching. Along with teachers pay teachers, Pinterest has become a key
component in my teaching career.
When I first started Pinterest, I only followed about 2
boards and they were mainly kindergarten. As a first year teacher, this became
my ally and my best friend. I especially used it to give me ideas to implement
in my literacy and math centers. Once I started following the first two boards,
I started adding and adding…now I follow about 20 boards! I check it at least
once a day and fall in love with it each day. I have obtained many of my
teaching ideas from there, from classroom decorating, incentives, to lesson
plans.
As an educator I would use Pinterest for:
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To research grade level activities. Each Friday,
I look at the lesson plans for the following week and immediately use pinterest
to search for activities. It has been very helpful in providing creative, hands
on lesson plans. Along with the lesson plans it also provides great anchor
charts to use in the classroom.
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I would like to use these boards to provide activities
for my parents to use at home. I could create a board labeled “at home
activities”. In it I could pin websites, programs, and any hands on materials
students can use at home. Parents could
download any of these at the tip of their hands.
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I could create a board where I post the weekly
newsletters and homework assignments. I could “pin” the images of these on a
weekly basis. They will all be saved so I can have a record of all the
information. I like this idea because it will also serve as documentation in
case I ever encounter any parental issues. By having all this available for
parents, their involvement will increase along with student homework.
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I would use pinterest for the upper grades. Each
student would create their own board. They will use their board to track sources
to complete a social studies research project. They will be able to pin any
images, websites, or videos to help them in completing a successful project. At
the end I will create one board labeled “Research Project” in which each
student will be required to pin their finished product. Everyone will have
access to each other’s report.
I believe Pinterest is a great
resource to use. It is easy and very accessible to everyone.
I agree with you Pattsy about Pinterest being very accessible, even for me being technology challenged. But I agree that it would be wonderful if our students could create their own boards with informational articles or even just their interests. I also like your idea about having your newsletter there for parents to see. This site can be a great information site for our students to visit also and see finished products of how their assignments should end up looking like.
ReplyDeletePattsy,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea of using boards for activities for parents to do at home. One of the most critical components of successful academics is parental involvement. Having activities and notices for families gives parents no excuse to say they weren't aware of something. It's a great way to keep parents involved and children feeling supported all around.