I recently discovered Pinterest and at first glance, I really wasn’t that impressed. It seemed like yet another social networking site that I could live without. In fact, it seemed so similar to Tumblr that I wrote it off for several months. But I have finally come around to sing its praises.
Pinterest is basically an online pinboard. I don’t how else to describe it. It’s like a bulletin board where we can post images, videos, and text from a variety of different sources. The coolest thing about, though, is that you can organize your collection extremely well. You do this by creating specific “boards.”
I had been struggling with a way to keep track of all of my favourite teaching ideas I come across online. I use Twitter to share ideas often but the tweets end up getting buried and are difficult to find when I want to recall them weeks or months later.
With Pinterest, I’ve created a board for each and every subject area. Now when I come across a great reading or writing idea, I simply “pin” that idea or resource to my Language Arts Board (I posted about this last month.)
I’ve set up boards for every teaching area or idea I can think of. I have a board for Differentiated Instruction, one for Classroom Organization, one for Math Instruction, and so on.
Pinterest is a great bookmarking tool that you can have access to anywhere. It also lets you share ideas with other teachers. If you like something someone else has posted, you can “repin it” so it will also appear on whatever specific board you choose.
The only problem with Pinterest is that it is so visual. It relies on pictures or images to link back to the original source. It does allow you to add text but you are limited to the amount of words you use to describe a site or resource you are pinning.
That being said, I am completely sold on using Pinterest to organize and collect teaching ideas. I know people use it for a lot more but my page and all of my boards are entirely dedicated to teaching.
My Teaching Resources
- Teaching Tip Tuesday Archive (over 100 useful tips, tricks, and lessons)
- Chase March on Pinterest (follow all of my boards for great teaching ideas)
2 responses to “A Treasure Trove of Teaching Ideas”
Hi Chase .. I can quite see that Pinterest would serve a purpose for you .. and I must look into it one day.
I'll need to come back to see your boards ..
Cheers Hilary
Hi Hilary,
It's an interesting new social tool. Unfortunately, there seems to be a new site popping up almost daily now. It's hard to keep up with them all.
That being said, I think Pinterest is worth joining if you have a specific interest and would like to organize ideas, websites, and images all in one place.
Hope you have a great weekend!