Pinterest Party

Purpose

One of the biggest problems with professional development is that there is often not enough time to create the materials that will put the PD to use. I have hosted a school counselor "Pinterest Party," as well as co-facilitated one for all of my school staff - both were meant to provide educators with the time they needed to explore new ideas and create materials to take with them.

Implementation

School Counselors

On August 16, 2012, all 8 elementary school counselors in my district got together for a Pinterest Party! Each school counselor brought materials for at least one project. It was unbelievably fun and energizing! I thought I'd share some of the projects we made, with links to the actual Pinterest activities. Also, two of my brave colleagues agreed to explain a couple of their ideas on camera. Enjoy!

As you can see, we accomplished a LOT in one afternoon and decided that we definitely want to continue having Pinterest Parties.

Have you ever hosted an event similar to this one? If so, please let me know what you did and how you organized it. As school counselors, we can sometimes feel very alone; we need to collaborate and support one another through this wonderful, but challenging job.

Videos can be found here:
"Pinterest Party"

Entire School

During a two hour delayed start (scheduled professional development), 3 teachers and I held an all-school Pinterest Party. To gain interest and intrigue, we created a 1 minute video highlighting how Pinterest has come to our rescue; we showed the movie at a staff meeting that was held before our scheduled professional development. We also had a sign-up sheet for those who were interested in joining and would like to receive an invite from one of us. In general, we encouraged staff members to explore the site prior to our party, but did not require them to do so.

On the actual day, we met as a whole group to review what Pinterest looks like and how to navigate the site. Then, we numbered off by 3 to determine which room staff members visited first. 2 presenters were assigned the "Language Arts Room," 1 was assigned the "Math Room," and I was assigned the "Behavior Room." Staff members had 30 minutes in each room. All of the activities were, of course, pinned onto a "Hiawatha Pinterest Party" board. Check it out here!

Here is what we created in the Behavior Room: