Final Project: Using Ideas from Pinterest to Engage Students

Whether you are going to be a future teacher or parent, searching for ideas to engage our youth into reading can be a challenge. With the advent of the internet, ideas are now shared across the world faster than ever.  Websites like Pinterest allow the best ideas of parents and teachers to be shared instantly for all to access.  Sites like these provide a resource of quality educational material that we as educators are now just starting to tap into.  

My grandmother, a teacher for over 45 years, once told me that one does not become a reader until one becomes engaged in reading. I believe the three of the main forces behind a child’s engagement in reading include a motivation to read, a comprehension of what they read, and establishing a solid vocabulary foundation.  While searching the website Pinterest, I found a wealth of resources related to my personal “three pillars of reading engagement”.  In the description box, I rewrote the description to better explain the idea or to describe how I would implement it into the classroom.  The more I searched for Educational ideas on Pinterest, the more I found how they directly related to the concepts we have been learning this semester in EDUTL 5468.  

Motivation

In the course textbook Teaching Reading in the 21^st Century, the issue of motivation is highlighted quite frequently. “Research has repeatedly verified that if students are going to be motivated and engaged in school and learn from their schoolwork, they need to succeed at a vast majority of the tasks they undertake (Graves, Juel, & Graves, 2007, p. 50).”  Graves goes on to say, “A successful reading experience is one that the reader finds enjoyable, informative, or thought provoking… a successful reading experience is often means to a larger goal (Graves et al., 2007, p. 51).

When a child first begins to read, their motivation may be as simple as the “larger goal” receiving a bag of gummy worms to eat during reading time.  However, the hope is that that simple motivation of receiving a bag of gummy worms will turn into a motivation of receiving a larger goal of enjoyment, information, and inspiration once the student gives reading a chance.  The student may not of ever of read if they were not motivated by the gummy worms, but now has given reading a try and is motivated to continue for a new set of reasons.

Students also stay motivated when their success is tracked.  Ideas on my board such as the “silent reading chains” helps students visually track their progress and may incite them to read more to keep up with their peers.  I encourage you to check out my Pinterest account for other great ways to motivate students to read!

Comprehension

From personal and professional experience, I know that developing readers comprehend best when they implement strategies they learn in the classroom.  As Graves puts it in Chapter 11- Teaching Comprehension Strategies, “We want all of our students to be skillful readers, but also strategic readers.  A strategy that is performed effortlessly with minimal conscious attention is a skill, and a skill performed with deliberate thought and intention is a strategy (Graves et al., 2007, p. 326).”

Developing skills and strategies for students to better understand text is one of the important aspects of teaching.  The pins on my Comprehension Board expertly highlight some of these strategies we can teach students to help better comprehend their reading.  The images and graphics on my account serve as great posters in the classroom to remind students of strategies they can use to better understand a text.  However, arguably my favorite pin on this board is the comprehension flower.  This colorful, interactive tool can be spun to ask questions to students about a reading.  This activity is a fun, interactive game that also reinforces important questions that students should internalize while reading any text.  Please check out my Pinterest Board for my ideas on successful comprehension development activities for the classroom!

Vocabulary

A student can only be fully engaged with a text only if their vocabulary level is comparable to the text given. In the book Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents, vocabulary is mentioned as one of the most overlooked aspects of education beyond elementary school because “many consider vocabulary knowledge to be the domain of English or early elementary school teachers and did not spend much instructional time on vocabulary (Ivey & Fisher, 2006, p. 39).” In order to facilitate an environment for engaged readers to develop, a comprehensive vocabulary curriculum needs to be developed throughout a child’s education.

I have included some ideas to develop this “comprehensive vocabulary curriculum” on my Pinterest board.  One of these ideas is a graphic organizer that can be completed by students when they stumble across a new word.  This organizer includes spots for the definition, parts of speech, synonyms, and a student drawn picture.  Synthesizing the vocabulary words into this organizer will help students have a more complete understanding of the new vocabulary words themselves. Word-a-Day books are also a great resource to slowly, but consistently add to students vocabulary on a daily basis.

In addition, especially for younger students, games and activities are often needed to engrain new vocabulary into their minds.  My board includes some links to some awesome ideas on games that integrate vocabulary development!

Please check out my Pinterest board for more inspiration on how to incorporate more vocabulary development into your classroom!

Conclusion  

With a solid foundation of these “three pillars of reading engagement”, students are well on their way to becoming a lifelong reader. The pins on my Pinterest account serve as ideas to better engage students in the reading process. When developing ideas and concepts for my future classroom, I like to put myself in the shoes of my students.  Would I enjoy this activity? Would I take the time to read this poster? Would I want to complete this assignment?  If the answer is no, I believe the idea is not worth pursuing.  I, however, am excited to implement all these pins into my future classroom as I see them as quality educational tools.  When teachers are able to share their best ideas and activities through sites like Pinterest, I believe a better educational experience can be had by all.  This project greatly benefited me as a future teacher as I now of a surplus of ideas to implement into my classroom that directly relate to the content we have been covering in class all semester.    I hope you enjoy my boards as much as I do!

Happy teaching!

Works Cited

Graves, M.F., Juel, D., & Graves, B.B. (2007). Teaching Reading in the 21st Century (5th edition).

     Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Ivey, G., & Fisher, D. (2006). Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

 

Link to my Account: http://pinterest.com/teachreaders/