A How to Guide to Pinterest for Teachers

(Photo credit: Great British Chefs)

Teachers LOVE Pinterest!  I have lots of friends who tell me that they now spend more time on Pinterest than they do on facebook.  Do you feel that way?  Or is it a site you've not looked at yet?  If the latter is true, I'd definitely encourage you to try it. Pinterest has become one of the best ways to share creative ideas and lessons out there.  I recently took at class on Pinterest through my school system (I'm not kidding, it's that helpful for teachers!) and although I was already a Pinterest fan, I still learned a lot. 

Why is Pinterest so engaging? Pinterest is informative, visual, interactive AND a great way to share creative ideas for lesson plans or classroom activities.  Of course most teachers don't just have a board for school.  There's also a board for recipes, home design and gorgeous locations to vacation!  At least that's some of the boards that I have created.

What is Pinterest?  It is a website that is nothing more than a huge bulletin board where you can "pin" or attach pictures and web addresses of things that you like on the web. Find the perfect lesson for Earth Day?  Then create a link on your school board and you can refer back to it easily without searching for days for the elusive site that described it.  Discover a recipe for Grandma's chocolate cake?  Pin it to your dessert recipe board and you'll never be frantically searching for it again.

Joining Pinterest and Setting Up Boards

Here's how the site works.  First you must set up an account.  You can do that here by going to http://pinterest.com and click on Join Pinterest.  Masure that you choose to sign up with your email address not facebook or twitter. 

Next you can create a profile and your boards.  In the beginning, there is a tendency to create general topics for your boards but I will advise you now to go ahead and start out being more specific.  I started with a board called school and it wasn't long before I was scrolling through way too many different topics to find the perfect book for a lesson.  Now I have them divided into categories:  guidance lessons, books for children etc.

As you set up your boards you will notice that at the bottom there is the option for a secret board.  I really couldn't figure this out at first but discovered that sometimes brides use it to plan for a wedding, you might use it to plan a surprise party or anything else that you want to collect articles for but don't want others to know about. There is even an option where you can share the secret board with someone else if you are planning an activity together.

Searching Pinterest for Great Stuff

Whenever you log in to Pinterest, lots of items that others have pinned to their boards show up.  You can follow other teachers that you know to learn about their lessons and activities. You can also search the site for certain topics or just look at the general or popular things that are pinned.  There is so much information on Pinterest that you can spend hours scanning and pinning.  It is great fun!

Adding a "Pin It" Button to Your Toolbar

Finally you will want to add a "pin" button to your tool bar so that when you are searching the web, you can pin lesson plans or books or whatever onto your boards. Many sites now include a "pin it" button but if it doesn't have one you can easily add it to your toolbar by logging into pinterest, selecting goodies from the toolbar and dragging the "pin it" button provided to your toolbar.  Pretty simple!

Pinterest is a wonderful resource for schools!  I'd love to hear how you are using Pinterest in your school counseling or teaching career. Also, please follow me on Pinterest so we can network and share ideas!

Like this blog post?  Please share with friends on facebook, twitter or PINTEREST!

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Teaching Is Not Rocket Science

Image via Wikipedia

Teaching is not rocket science.  It is in fact far more complex and demanding work than rocket science.  Richard Elmore

To any one in the teaching field the above quote is unquestionably true.  Why?  Because when you teach, you are dealing with PEOPLE not machines and on any given day, the variations between students and classrooms can be huge.  I thought I would make a list of a few of the factors that teachers need to take into consideration every day as they plan and teach lessons:

• Student's ability level:  What are they capable of learning?
• Student's personality: How are they best motivated?
• Student's home life and history: Does it support and encourage learning?
• Student's learning style:  How do they learn best... auditory, visual, kinesthetic?
• Student learning disabilities:  Do they have areas where they need different strategies and interventions in order to learn?
• Student's health and physical well-being:  Are there physcial impairments that make it difficult for them to learn?

Since I've never been involved in rocket science, you may think that I'm not qualified to make this comparison.  However, I can say that teaching and counseling in a school is an enormously difficult and complex job.  Dedicated teachers and counselors are continually learning, trying new strategies and evaluating the results.  Would you agree?

Countdown To Summer!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
It's the end of the school year and as always there are mixed feelings among teachers and students.  There is the anticipation of vacations and relaxation.  Amusement parks! Water parks! The beach!  Sleeping late and staying up late! On the other hand, there is sadness as we say good bye to friends, teachers, familiar classrooms and routines.  I've always thought that this yearly ending and beginning anew in the fall is a very unique environment.  Where else is there a job that has such a clearly defined beginning, middle and end?  Where else do you draw everything to a close (ready or not!), declare the end and several weeks later start afresh... new students, new classroom, new material to teach, new teacher?  I think there are at least three reasons why this is a great way to structure not only our school but out lives...  Here are a few:

1. Knowing that there a beginning and an end forces us to set goals.  This is something most of us are pretty good at talking about but not so good at doing.
2. Having a beginning and end also forces us to measure our progress in some way.  Rather than just thinking that we are accomplishing something, we have to have proof.
3. Finally, having a beginning and an end gives us the satisfaction of closure as well as the freshness of a new beginning.

Lets count it down... how many more days are left?