Discover the Joys

of Pinterest. This past week in class, I was a part of a group project on how teachers can use pinterest, both in their classroom and for ideas, and I must say it really opened my eyes to all that pinterest can do. Before this project, I really didn't have a pinterest account and I did not have a clue how to use it. I mean I had heard of it, and I kinda was interested in it, since one of my friends is pinterest obsessed and posts a ton of things to Facebook.
So I decided to join pinterest, and now it has become an obsession of mine too. There are just so many great ideas posted on pinterest, that as a future teacher, I can literally spend hours on it looking at all the ideas. There are some really awesome looking science boards on it, since they show you how to walk on eggs (without breaking them), grow all kinds of crystals and a ton of other really awesome ideas. I also found great games and ideas for social studies, like an Underground Railroad game and a "Guess Who" game of famous historical figures. There are also pictures and maps available on pinterest, so you can show your class photos of Egypt, if that is what you are talking about in class. There are also all kinds of recipes, so in social studies class you could analyze the recipes, discussing why certain ingredients are used in some areas of the world, but not in others. There are also ideas for math class, which I really love, since math can be a hard subject to try and make "fun". There is an awesome diagram of a math dance that students can do, to help them remember the proper shapes of graphs that they learn in high school or other ideas like stacking shapes, to get students involved. Through the project I also found other ideas, like using plastic single use plates as whiteboards for students, and creating a no-name hanger for student work. Pinterest has some many ideas, if you are willing to look. Too often, it is assumed that pinterest is just for females, since there are a lot of craft ideas, but there are some many more things on it. Everyone could find something they are interested in, if they are willing to look.
Pinterest can also serve as a way for teachers to recharge their batteries, since there are things for pretty much every hobby or interest on it. This is crucial for teachers, since we need to have a way to get back our energy and our enthusiasm, by having time to ourselves.
One more thing in the video front. We successfully made a video, but it was not without complications, mostly one the audio front. This is something else to consider when working with technology, do you have a way to save the day, when things should have gone perfectly, but you discover, after 90% of your time is gone, that one silly, but crucial thing has not worked. In our case, we had enough footage to use, without having to worry about the clips that did not have any audio, but what if we hadn't, what could we have done?