However, this month, I have had the opportunity of helping students in two classes, Photography and Interior Design, use Pinterest to complete a project. I am always excited when staff want to utilize tools such as social media with their students.
For those of you who do not know what Pinterest is you can watch this quick 90 second tutorial that I shared with the students prior to using the platform.
What I am most excited about is not that the fact that the teachers were using this social media platform, instead, I was excited that they were using the tool to enhance/improve their current projects.
Interior Design Class
Mrs. Shultz's main goal was for each student to have a board to share images that connected to a specific design style. For instance, a student was responsible to find design items that pertained to Caribbean style. Not only did students pin pictures of these items, they also provided a reason as to why they picked that project or why it connected to the specific design style.
This process proved to be a great way of collecting student ideas and thoughts. Not only that but Mrs. Shultz was able to show all these examples to the class from one location as she did not have to worry about receiving different links to projects.
Click HERE to view the Pinterest Boards from class.
Photography Class
Originally, Mrs. Hogan wanted to do the same thing that Ms. Shultz did. Ms. Hogan shared a board, called 'Environmental Portraits', with all of her students. The purpose of this was for students to share images that they found online that they thought matched the theme of Environment. Again, once a student found an image, they attached a description as to why they pinned that picture.
Since then, she has taken this social media platform to the next level. She has had all of her students create a board, that is shared with her, so that students can create their own portfolio of work for the class. In past years, students would complete their assignments and take pictures. However, these pictures would be stored on a school hard drive that only Mrs. Hogan owns and/or on the students' school network account. Now, anyone that has the link to their photography board, can see the great work that they are completing for the class.
Lastly, I believe Mrs. Hogan has also started created other boards as a means of providing resources for her students on particular content.
Click HERE to view the Pinterest Boards from class.
How this as Accomplished:
- Students got parental permission to create a school Pinterest account prior to using the social media platform
- Students created their account
- Students followed their teacher (teacher using a school Pinterest account)
- Teacher created a board and shared that board with their students via email
- Students were shown how to pin to a board (inside Pinterest as well as on a regular website)
So there you have it, a couple different ways in which Pinterest can be used in the class. As always, if you think you want to use Pinterest in your classroom, or you want to learn more about it, just stop on by room 222 and I can assist!
Happy Pinning...
