This has been an exciting week at BHS with all of the new tech integration that is occurring. One big project was with the freshman Humanities class. Students were tasked with researching about a famous artist during the Renaissance time period. Once the research was compiled, students learned to use a new, free web 2.0 tool called Smore (I had written a blog post about this tool earlier in the school year).
Once students completed their project, they shared their Smore link to their teacher through a use of a Google form. Alot of times, this is where the project stops. The teacher clicks on each of the links, and grades the students with a rubric. These teachers however wanted a means by which everyone in the class can look at what each other did, in addition to answering some questions about the particular figures. In other words, the teachers wanted to create their own version of a 'Virtual Museum'.
We put our heads together and decided that the best way of having students 'experience' a virtual museum would be through Pinterest. Thus, one of the teachers,
Mr. Santy created a teacher Pinterest account (to separate his personal account), to create a Renaissance Virtual Museum board for all three teachers (Mr. Santy, Ms. Ferrelli, and Mrs. Dreyer). He then, opened up each link that was given to him, pinned it, and added it to the board. The best part is that students who have a pinterest account can choose to follow the board. Students who do not have the account, can just view the page from the teacher's website. To view the board, click
HERE. This is just a great way of seeing each others work...plus what better way than engaging students through means by which they are familiar with...social media.
I look forward to helping integrate Pinterest in other classes. If you have any questions about how you can integrate this in your own class, stop by 222 and we can chat!
