I didn't set out to get myself hooked on Pinterest. In fact, all I wanted to do really was see if someone had a neat idea or activity to use for teaching demonstrative adjectives in French.
A quick Google search brought me to a number of different Pinterest sites. Before I knew it, I had spent over an hour scrolling through a number of Pinterest sites, reading some of the inspirational quotes and jotting down a few of the activity ideas. Then I realized my jot notes on scrap paper were silly. How much easier would it be just to click "Pin It"?!
Pinterest, like Twitter, is all about sharing information. In fact, when you first join, the program asks you to choose 5 people to follow - just to get you started. I can see how this program - once again, like Twitter, - could easily become addictive. There is a wealth of knowledge presented in an interesting way, and I don't even have to go searching for it. Someone with similar interests to mine has probably already pinned a whole bunch of ideas, websites, and images that I would likely want to look for.
The next step is bringing it to the classroom. I can see the possibility of having students use Pinterest to collect and submit an annotated bibliography of sorts on a given topic. Students could gather a number of pictures and links that all help to support their thinking about a topic and then provide comments on each image. The challenge and the reward of a site like Pinterest is its public nature. It's great for sharing ideas and resources. It's challenging for maintaining privacy of students. Perhaps we could have a class Pinterest where students can all log in to the same site and make modifications to a board there. That way no names, e-mails, etc. would have to be shared.
I'm excited about the possibilities.
A quick Google search brought me to a number of different Pinterest sites. Before I knew it, I had spent over an hour scrolling through a number of Pinterest sites, reading some of the inspirational quotes and jotting down a few of the activity ideas. Then I realized my jot notes on scrap paper were silly. How much easier would it be just to click "Pin It"?!
Pinterest, like Twitter, is all about sharing information. In fact, when you first join, the program asks you to choose 5 people to follow - just to get you started. I can see how this program - once again, like Twitter, - could easily become addictive. There is a wealth of knowledge presented in an interesting way, and I don't even have to go searching for it. Someone with similar interests to mine has probably already pinned a whole bunch of ideas, websites, and images that I would likely want to look for.
The next step is bringing it to the classroom. I can see the possibility of having students use Pinterest to collect and submit an annotated bibliography of sorts on a given topic. Students could gather a number of pictures and links that all help to support their thinking about a topic and then provide comments on each image. The challenge and the reward of a site like Pinterest is its public nature. It's great for sharing ideas and resources. It's challenging for maintaining privacy of students. Perhaps we could have a class Pinterest where students can all log in to the same site and make modifications to a board there. That way no names, e-mails, etc. would have to be shared.
I'm excited about the possibilities.
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