As a new, twenty-something educator and researcher, one of the best lessons I have learned is to look everywhere! There seems to be no shortage of educated related information if you know where to look for it.for information
At first, it seemed like an overwhelming task to begin searching through it all and make meaning and connections that relate to my own work, thesis, and teaching philosophy. I began choosing a few media platforms to investigate at the beginning of 2014 and decided upon Pinterest, Twitter, and Blogspot.com. This post will be dedicated to Pinterest.
What is Pinterest?
Pinterest is a free, personalized media sharing platform that allows users to create themed collections of content (called pinboards) by uploading, saving, sorting, and managing images and other media content (called pins). Pinterest can be used to create and organize content for multiple purposes. Users can have one main use for their pinterest account (professional, research based, personal, informational, investigatory, promotional). Users may also choose to have multiple uses for their pinterest account. For example, a teacher may use his/her pinterest account to organize and find ideas for the classroom, for home decorating, for recipes, and for other miscellaneous interests.
How educators are using it?
Finding education related content is simple using Pinterest. You can start by typing 'education' into the search bar and exploring education focused users (Pinners) or specific user collections (boards/pinboards).
Once you find Pinners who are posting content that you are interested in, following them allows for their content to show up on your home page. Similarly, when you repin (a pinterest function that means re-posting another user's pin to one of your boards) related content will be suggested to you on your home page.
See The Teacher's Guide to Pinterest from edudemic.com. (Infographic photo credit from website).
How I am using Pinterest
I have been actively pinning for over two years! I originally began using Pinterest as a way to collect wardrobe, nutrition, and photography ideas. I began to see how useful Pinterest could be for my professional life as I began to repin from successful educators from across the world.
I completed my Bachelor of Education at Brock University in 2013/2014 and am proud to say that inspiration from Pinterest made it's way into all three of my teaching blocks. Now that I have been using Pinterest to inform my teaching practices (teaching assistant at Brock U, tutoring privately, and in-school teaching) I am actively mindful of ways that Pinterest can inform me and how I can use Pinterest to inform others! I have decided to start including two of my Pinterest Pinboards to the side of my blog. I have chosen 'Education' and "Tutoring' as the two boards I feel would benefit my audience best. A snapshot of my current education-related pinboards available on my page.
Happy Pinning!
