Blog Post #12

When I read that for this week's blog post assignment I am supposed to create and complete my own assignment, I immediately knew what I was going to do. What better assignment could there possibly be other than one involving the one and only Pinterest? I am a huge fan of Pinterest, and I enjoy looking through the boards in the education category. I think it is a really helpful website for teachers to know about. So, without further ado, here is my Pinterest assignment!

Blog Post 12 Due 11/18

1. Go to Pinterest, and create an account. Explore the website, especially the education category.

2. Read Four Ways to Use Pinterest in Education. Watch the video at the end of the article. Would you use any of these ideas in your classroom? Which ones? Why or why not?

3. Read The 20 Best Pinterest Boards About Education Technology. Visit each of these boards, and follow any that seem useful. Write one or more paragraphs about which boards you chose to follow and why.

4. Begin pinning to your own boards. What kinds of resources are you pinning, and how will they be helpful to you as an educator? Could Pinterest help with building your PLN? Why or why not?

My Completed Pinterest Assignment

After reading Four Ways to Use Pinterest in Education, I am so excited to continue with my pinning! This article gives teachers four suggestions on how to use Pinterest to help with their teaching. These ideas are lesson plans, sharing ideas, organization, and student use. For lesson planning, there are so many activities and crafts posted on Pinterest that you are sure to find the perfect one for your lesson. So many teachers share their ideas through blogging, and Pinterest is the place where all of these ideas come together in an organized way. Any teacher knows that organization is key to a classroom running smoothly, and Pinterest is just the place for ideas and inspiration. From storage tips to classroom management strategies, there is something for everyone. Students can even get in on the pinning action too. Boards can be made to be edited by a group of people, so maybe each of your students might have to find an article or video on a specific science topic and post it to a shared board for an assignment. Group projects can be easily organized with sources pinned all in one place. There are just so many possibilities.

I would definitely use all of these ideas in my classroom. As I mentioned earlier, I am a huge fan of this website. I am already finding so many great ideas for teaching, and since they are all in one place, they are easy to go back and find. I have always liked the quote, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." While this quote is absolutely terrible in the grammar department, I like the message. There are so many amazing teachers with fabulous ideas they are willing to share. Why should I try to reinvent the entire wheel when there is so much fabulous material already made just waiting to be modified to my preferences? That is not to say that I will never make up my own lesson plans and activities because I know I will. I think we should just take advantage of having access to so much inspiring material. As for organization, I'm just obsessed with it in general, so of course I would use ideas from Pinterest. Finally, I love the idea of using Pinterest for student assignments. I had not thought of it before, but I think it is genius! Although, I would probably only use it for this purpose if I teach older elementary students. I think it is a really organized, easy, and visually appealing way to keep track of student finds.

The next article I read, The 20 Best Pinterest Boards About Education Technology, is just what the title suggests. The author picked out the best boards about using technology in education, and put them all in one convenient place complete with descriptions of each. I chose my two favorite boards off of the list to follow. The first board I chose to follow is Vicki Davis's. Not only does she pin amazing technology resouces for the classroom, but also many other clever teaching ideas. Some of these include bulletin board ideas, science experiments, and printables, just to name a few. I already follow Vicki on Twitter, so I knew a Pinterest board from her would be just as great. The second board that I chose to follow is Melissa Alonso-Dillard's. She posts tons of great resources to use with Smartboards such as games, videos, websites, tips, and more. I chose to follow her because I am new to using Smartboards, and it will be helpful to have a few pointers for where to find good resources for them.

So far, I have 64 pins on my education board. Many of these are crafts, classroom management ideas, lesson plan resources, links to teacher blogs. I plan to use my education board as inspiration for lesson planning and classroom management. There are so many wonderful resources to be found on Pinterest. To me, the best part is that there is always something new on the website so it never gets old or boring. I think using Pinterest is a great way to build up my PLN because I have found so many amazing teaching blogs on it that I probably never would have seen otherwise. Pinterest brings teachers together, and it makes it easier than ever before to share teaching ideas. I love Pinterest, and I know it will help me as a teacher for years to come.