Pinterest in the Classroom


Many of us probably use Pinterest in our personal life, but why not start utilizing it as an instructional tool as well?  Sorry 7th grade teachers, this social media site, like most, is only for those kiddos 13 or older.  "Pinterest is a social network that allows users to visually share, and discover new interests by posting (known as 'pinning' on Pinterest) images or videos to their own or others' boards (i.e. a collection of 'pins,' usually with a common theme) and browsing what other users have pinned."

 There are thousands upon thousands of educational pins pinned every day, so USC Rossier Online has created an amazing resource with their "Guide to Pinterest for Educators."

Here a few suggestions for classroom use:

  • Creative team brainstorming
  • Research projects
  • Group projects
  • Digital student portfolios
  • Teaching self-reliance
  • Virtual field trips
  • Peer feedback
  • Collaborative stories
  • Photo journals
  • Differentiated learning
Using a social media site like Pinterest is also a perfect time to discuss copyright, citing sources, digital rights, and intellectual property.  If you're having students use Pinterest and you need photos, make sure they understand that any photo found in Google images is not necessarily theirs to use.  They can use photos from free sites like the Library of Congress or Flickr Creative Commons. I LOVE to talk about these things so I'm happy to assist if you'd like to use Pinterest.

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