Pinterest
I have often heard the saying “If your brain isn’t hurting, then you are not learning.” My brain is definitely in overload status, but I am learning many new things. This week’s assignment was to add another social networking application to our PLN. There were several suggestions, but I decided to give Pinterest a try. Many of my family and friends have raved about the site, but until this week I resisted the urge to join. The site is easy to set up and use but I know I have only scratched the surface of what it has to offer. For anyone new to the site, a great walk through of how to get started can be found here.
With Pinterest’s wide variety of topics, it is easy to become lost in the large amounts of data. Fortunately the scope of this week’s assignment suggested locating resources to assist with working with diverse students. I chose to narrow my focus even further and locate resources to assist both gifted students and those with autism. Both of these subjects are close to my heart. One of my boys was diagnosed with a form of autism when he was three. The other has been identified as gifted and attends a gifted class once a week. Our household is a very diverse place!
If you are looking for something to get started with, Tina Wahlert has a board for just about anyone. In particular I enjoyed her special education and gifted education boards. While tailored more toward the elementary years, I also enjoyed this set of boards from ReallyGoodStuff which includes a board specifically for ELL/ESL learners. We actually made one of the crafts on the board this evening to help my son when he is stressed or frustrated.
Do you have a favorite board for education? I would love to hear about your favorite boards. If you haven’t signed up for Pinterest yet and need an invite, please let me know. I am enjoying finding great resources and having a handy way to keep them all organized. The ability to ask questions and discuss the resources with other educators is an added bonus to an already great resource. My head is hurting, but it is a good hurt!
Hi Val-
ReplyDeleteI love Pinterest! I have so many boards dedicated to the classroom and I find myself looking for fresh ideas all the time. I just found out yesterday that I get to teach 1st grade next year (yay!) and I can't wait to start looking for first grade resources and classroom organization/management ideas. It's great that you were able to find some specific boards to fit your needs. Happy pinning!
~Heather
Val,
ReplyDeleteI love Pinterest as well! There are so many great resources. I like the way it is organized. It's easy to find specific things, but I also like that you can browse at your leisure. I have found so many ideas for my library, bulletin board ideas, center ideas, etc. As well as things for fun. Make sure you download the "Pin It" bookmark so you can pin things from websites that you want to keep for later. Take advantage of creating your own boards. It really helps to keep everything organized.
Thanks for sharing the good resource with the Pinterest walk through. I will have to add that to my resources in Black Board for future students. I love having you in my PLN and learning from you too!
ReplyDelete