Ok, so Pinterest might be the greatest thing ever to grace this earth! I love it so much it's ridiculous. I have everything on my Pinterest boards from Disney to my travel plans, to tattoos, to plans for my future children.
Pinterest is addictive...
... but it is also very beneficial. I have 3 or 4 boards created just for my classrooms (existing and future ones). I have everything from curriculum to bulletin boards; art projects to simple math games (but mainly art projects). Pinterest is so useful in the classroom, and I feel like many teachers underestimate it (especially the guys!).
Some ways Pinterest can be used in the Classroom
There are so many unique ways to use Pinterest in the classroom. However, we don't have all day so I will cut right to the chase. Here are two MAJOR reasons why you should look into using Pinterest in your classroom...
Decorating Ideas-- No student (or teacher for that matter!) likes a boring room. The classroom should stimulate the students interest in learning and be an open/welcoming learning environment. Some of the worst classrooms I have been in were boring and dull; no pictures or posters on the walls, no bulletin boards with information for the students on it, basic seating chart,etc. With Pinterest, teachers can find new ways to decorate their rooms; many projects are DIY (do-it-yourself) and cheap, meaning that you can decorate your classroom without breaking the bank.
Curriculum Ideas-- This is a biggie for me! I love getting onto Pinterest because every time I get on there is something new and creative to try out. You can find a picture of something like a picture frame, but repin it and keep it stored as an idea for an art project. You are allowed so much creative freedom on Pinterest, and it rocks. I've built entire curriculum based off of a Pin Board I had one summer.
Now we come to the good stuff...
For a class I am in, I had to create a Pinterest board focusing on my subject area and pin ideas for different projects. Afterwards, I was supposed to create my own project and create a rubric and outline for it.
I chose to create a project that focuses on past artists and the influences they have for creating art! This project is perfect for the art or history teacher who wants to add some fun and creativity to their curriculum. Students are told to pick an artist, learn about them, write a paper, then give a presentation with a visual aid they created to go along with their report. The visual aid is supposed to be representative of the artist in some way. Depending on whether you are an art or history teacher, the project can put more emphasis on either the research or visual aid portion. I tried to keep my example and rubric pretty basic in order to make it easier for other teachers to tweak it to their personal needs or desires.
My assignment outline and rubric are located here.
I figured since every teacher has their own versions of papers and what they want to be in them, I would not give my example paper. Instead, I created my own visual aid. While PowerPoint would be easier, I prefer more tangible visual aids (and also, everyone does PowerPoint differently!). Here is what I created as my visual aid:
I created a bag with a quote from Vincent van Gogh on it. He is by far my favorite artist, and is absolutely amazing.
If a student were to do something like this, questions I would ask are "Why a bag?" and "Why this quote?"
I chose a bag not only because I will use it whenever possible, but also because he was an artist. As an amateur artist myself, I've grown to realize artists always have at least one sketchbook and multiple writing utensils with them at all times. What better way to carry them around than a bag? Also, van Gogh had a lot of "bag"gage! (sorry, I had to get the pun in!)
I chose this quote because van Gogh's painting "Starry Night" is one of my favorite paintings. The quote also resonates with me.
So even though my example is not super indepth, it is a good example of what the students will probably do.
"Okay, How did you do that?"
Here's some instructions on how I painted the bag!
Materials:
Cheap bag-- I got mine from Hobby Lobby in the crafting area next to the aprons and foam hats.
Paint (I used a lot of blues and white)
Paintbrushes and a toothbrush
Plate or Pallet to put your paint on
Water
Trashbag or plastic to lay down (I did not think ahead and got paint all over where I was painting-- oops!)
Gloves (If getting paint on you bothers you)
The paint colors I used were:
Apple Barrel's China Blue, Pool Blue, Bright Blue, Cobalt Blue, and Admiral Blue
Liquitex Basic's Cerulean Blue Hue, Cobalt Blue Hue, and Ultramarine Blue
(I used Apple Barrel's White for the lettering)
I free-handed the majority of what I did. But basically I first painted the entire bag with the different dark blues. I put the darkest colors on the middle and outside, then layered the lighter dark blues in between them (almost like a donut ring). Don't be afraid to mix the colors to get your own versions-- that's what I did!
After the entire bag was covered, I dipped the bristled end of the toothbrush in the light blues and "sprayed" it on top of the darker blues.
(You hold the toothbrush like so, then run your thumb across the bristles to get a sprayed effect)
After I finished spraying, my bag looked like this. (Pretty awesome isn't it? It looks harder than it actually was.) Tip: The closer the brush is to the bag, the more concentrated the color will be. For example, in the top right corner I held the toothbrush a lot closer there than I did in the bottom left corner.
After I let the bag dry, I wrote out the words and got the placement I wanted in pencil (that way I could erase it if needed). I then painted over it with white so that the words would pop.
Tahdah!!! Beautiful, galexy space bag with meaningful artist quote!
So what did I learn from all of this? Pinterest, rubric-writing, assignment-creating, bag-painting... all of it.
Well first off, I realized I cannot spell the word rubric to save my life (I kept typing "ruberic") and that acrylic paint comes off of wood faster if you catch it while it's still wet. But I also learned that so much preperation needs to be done and thought out before you can put a plan (in this case, lesson plan) into action. Teachers do so much prep work, but in the end if they put enough time and dedication into it then both the teacher and student will benefit.
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