Pinterest- My New Love for Visual Bookmarking Education and Teaching Web Content

Image by hello jenny via Flickr

Have you ever heard of Pinterest?  The first time I have ever heard of it was last night, or maybe I have seen it mentioned but never really paid attention.  Time magazine named it one of “The 50 Best Websites of 2011.”  Apparently, woman love the website.  Men use it but it is less known by them.  I am a woman and had never heard of it until a friend posted a status update about it on Facebook.  I’m always curious of new social media platforms and technology tools.  I especially love tools that are used for educational and teaching purposes.  Not knowing what Pinterest was and letting my curiosity get the best of me, I decided to check it out.  If you have ever heard of and have used Pinterest for a while, excuse me for never hearing about it.  I apparently have been out of the loop on this one for a while, even though it is a relatively new platform.  I am enthusiastic about it and excited to start using it.  As soon as I saw what it was about, I wanted to blog about it immediately.  It was late at night so I had to wait until today to blog.

Pinterest provides a place where the user can visually bookmark, or pin web content pictures to a pinboard.  You can then attach notes to items you pin.  Make sure to cite the source of where the pictures come from.  You can create as many pinboards as you want to and can categorize your pinboards into subjects of your choosing for easy reference.  Pinterest is a social networking site.  You can follow other people on the sitethat you know or don’t know, people whose pins you like, your friends, etc.  You can scroll through pinboards by subject to look for visual content that you like from pinboards that other people have pinned.  If you see a picture you like from another pinboard you can pin it and add it to one of your own pinboards.

In order to join Pinterest you must receive an invite from a friend or request an invite from Pinterest’s website.  I sent a request last night and within hours received an email invite from Pinterest to officially join.  It did not take long to get the invite at all. In order to join this site, you must join through linking your Twitter or Facebook accounts.  I linked my professional Twitter feed because I only intend right now to use Pinterest for professional and education-related use, although the website can be used for personal use. Pinterest also has an i-phone app that is cool. I downloaded it last night. It is easy to use and has good visual display.  With the app, I can easily access my pinboards or scroll through other people’s pinboards on the go when and wherever I need.  I love it! Here is a basic tutorial on how to use it. You can check it out on this short YouTube Video.

I’m addicted to finding new websites for educational purposes and teaching: lesson plans, interactive lesson content, articles, curriculum, etc.  Anyone who has ever closely worked with me knows I am the source for sharing websites and online content I find for lessons and so forth.  I have tons of websites and content bookmarked and added to my favorites.  I have so much that it is sometimes overwhelming to keep track of.  I love searching for and finding information to help students learn or articles that I can learn from so that I can improve my instructional techniques, curriculum, and lesson delivery.  I guess you can say I am a nerd for education virtual information.  I love to find it and love to share it.  This is why Pinterest is so attractive to me.  I am a visual learner and respond more quickly to categorizing, keeping track of, using information and finding information when it is in visual form.  Pinterest seems like the best bookmarking solution for me.  I can create education-related pinboards, lesson plans, curriculum idea, etc. that I find on the web, pin it to a Pinterest pinboard and categorize the content by subject.  I then have easy visual references bookmarked to scroll through, and use when I need.

I Googled “Pinterest education pinboards” last night to see if there are many people using it for education purposes and teaching.  I came across several websites and videos I’d like to share.  Eric Klein with guest blogger Amanda Plubm of the Kleinspiration blog has a great post on using Pinterest as a valuable tool for your PLN (Personal Learning  Network). I think Eric and Amanda make a good point here. I can see how Pinterest can be a needed resource for expanding your PLN, networking with, collaborating with, and learning from other educators. Barbara Day has blogged about using Pinterest to create lesson ideas and posters. She scrolled through other existing pinboards and created posters using pictures other people have pinned to their pinboards. Her blog is worth reading, “Pinterest; A Treasure Chest of Inspiration.”

As I scrolled through the Google search results, I found this amazing list of education-related pinboards on the Pinterest account from PediaStaff. Their pinboards are specifically for Special Education and therapy related ideas, however if you scroll through their pinboards you will see that the content that they have pinned can be used by many educators. They have too many categories to list, so I highly recommend you check out their pinboards. Here are a few of their pinboard categories related to education: “Language, Grammar, Sentences”, “Story Telling, Sequencing, Social Stories, Conversation”, “Fine Motor Skills”, “Sensory, Tactile, Auditory, Ect.” “Bilingualism & Multiculturalism”, “Counting, Sorting, & Matching”, etc. Here is a screen shot of some of the categories for PediaStaff’s pinboards on Pinterest.
Here is a screen shot of their pinboard “Language, Grammar, Sentences”.

Kelly Kravitz on her Pinterest categorized “what to teach”. Take a look through some of the ideas and visuals. As you can see, the content display on this site is visually appealing. I think it is a wonderful tool for educators and homeschooling. While Googling Pinterest in education I read comment posts on various websites by homeschool moms who love the site for categorizing their homeschool teaching content, lessons and ideas. I can see why it is a homeschooler’s dream. It can be a teacher’s dream as well.

Erin E. Templeton of The Chronicle for Higher Education heard of Pinterest recently too, in July 2011 or so. He wrote a blog post called, “Pinterest: A Social Catalog”.  His post is worth reading.

Art teachers love Pinterest. With so many visuals and ideas to categorize, I can see why. Jessica, an art educator discusses this website on her blog post, “Crazy for Pinterest!” She has provided some visuals of her pinboard and of a pinboard for “Art for Special Needs” by Jill.

Paul Smith has the best blog post I could find of ideas for using Pinterest in education. His blog post with Pearson School Systems is a must read, “Four Ways to Use Pinterest in Education.” His post is insightful and gets you brainstorming ideas for using Pinterest for educational purposes. I had already started thinking of ideas for its use myself. Paul listed some ideas that I didn’t even think of. His ideas are good. I can see how Pinterest will be a vital asset to my PLN. His blog post has a link to another Youtube Video Tutorial on how to use Pinterest.

I am so excited to begin using this fabulous website. I received my invite early this morning and have created the account.  I have been busy on and off all day working on this blog post. I have been so excited to write this post that I have not had much time to use my Pinterest account yet. Between taking care of my child and doing other important daily tasks, I haven’t had time to sit down to use it. I will write a follow-up post here on my blog once I have used it some more. If you would like a Pinterest invite email me at adaptivelearnin@gmail.com. I have several invites I can share. I’d be happy to send invites until I run out…first come first serve. Come find me on Pinterest if you join or already have an account. My screen name on Pinterest is also “adaptivelearnin”. See you there!

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