Pinterest is a great resource for librarians and library staff, great for Makerspaces, and a good site for plain-old-fun, too! Here’s a quick how-to to get started on Pinterest:
After you create an account here, the site will also ask you to pick your interests – they will be topics you follow, and Pinterest will suggest boards & pinners related to those interests. Don’t feel bound to getting it perfect right away – you can update these later.
Main page
Your main page has pins which are based on the interests you selected during sign-up. Pins are images that link to content on other sites – some people pin pictures, others pin for other external content.
Anatomy of a pin
The description underneath the image can be changed when you repin the pin
Under the description, we can see that the pin has been repinned 150 times and liked 80 times
The pin was found in “Humor” – you would see this if you selected “Humor” as an interest
When you hold your cursor over the Pin, you will see three buttons that allow you to Pin it to one of your boards, Send it privately to a fellow pinner, or Like it (the heart icon)
Pinterest will show you pins based on your interests, but will also suggest new boards and pinners for you.
Following
You can follow pinners by typing their name in the search bar, selecting “Pinners” underneath the bar, and selecting “Follow” underneath their profile link
The circle with the check mark inserted means that Pinterest has verified this is THE New York Public Library’s (NYPL) Pinterest account
Following NYPL ensures that all of their pins show up on your main page
You can follow boards instead of pinners as well
These are two of the NYPL’s boards – if you’ve had your fair share of internet cats, you can decide to follow just “NYPL <3 U”
Following a board ensures that all of the pins to that board show up on your main page, but not all the pins that the pinner pins
Well, now you’ve got a hold on Pinterest! As with any other site, there’s some more exploring that you can do to learn more and get more out of your account. One of the best things about Pinterest is it’s ease of use – especially as a new user – the site will show you what to do.
Looking to try out a makerspace in your library, but unsure of where to start? Why not try Pinterest? Pinterest is a visual site where you can search for boards and users (called ‘pinners’) for pinspiration in all sorts of topics. Need a quick intro?
For example, you could follow this board by pinner Eric Sheninger (Senior Fellow and Thought Leader on Digital Leadership). . .
. . .this board by AnibalPachecoIT (owner and Chief Learning Officer, Instructional Technology Solutions). . .
Or, you may find a pinner like Diana Rendina (Media Specialist and School Librarian, blogger of Renovated Learning), who has many boards on makerspaces. You can follow one of her boards, all of them, or a number in between:
Did you find some other great resources on Pinterest as you were browsing? Be sure to let us know!
Parents and teachers have been concerned with the increase of stress in their students’ lives. Leigh Ann Whittle of Edudemic visited Visitacion Valley Middle School to see their meditation program in action, and featured them in her post, An Effective Approach to Reduce Students’ Stress.
Whittle offers several meditation activities to try, as well as advice on how to implement a meditation program in your setting. Here are Edutopia’s four steps to implementing one:
Identify Key Problems Determine what behavior problems need to be addressed by meditation – this could be truancy, academics, traumatic experiences, etc.
Prepare for Implementation Inform yourself with relevant research to convince colleagues and parents of the benefits of a meditation program, and teach the faculty and students basic meditation techniques.
Determine How Meditation Time Will Be Spent Meditation time is quite time, but not inactive time – encourage students to find what relaxation techniques work best for them, whether it’s reading, drawing, or something else.
Adjust School Space and Schedule Accordingly Designate a specific space for meditation time, and adjust the school schedule to accommodate your new meditation program.
Meditation isn’t beneficial only to students – give these a try yourself (if you’re not using meditation techniques already), and share with your colleagues!
Celebrate the end of the school year with a road trip to the Twin Cities for Teen Lit Con! This event is FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, so you can bring your kids! You don’t even have to register – just mark the date (Saturday, May 9th) on your calendar and show up! Many great YA authors will be at Teen Lit Con – including Gayle Forman, author of I Was Here – that makes this event well worth the trip! Check out their site to see what other authors will be there.
The description underneath the image can be changed when you repin the pin
