June 14, 2012

21ST CENTURY BOOK REPORTS: PINTEREST IN THE ELA CLASSROOM

• Allow students to use Pinterest as a way to create a book report online.

• Students will have certain benchmarks they have to reach each week.

• The final result is a Pinterest board that they will present to the class.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Colleen Houck, a young adult author, uses Pinterest to create boards for each of her novels.

Colleen’s Pinterest Page

BEHIND THE IDEA

• The assignment will take place over 6 weeks.• Week 1: Set up• Week 2: Exposition• Week 3: Rising Action• Week 4: Climax • Week 5: Falling Action and Resolution• Week 6: Changes in main characters, opinion of the book,

and theme

ASSIGNMENT

• Bookmarking• Appropriate use of social media*• Concise writing skills*• Learning to link to pictures on websites that have

appropriate content*• Use of search engines• Use of image search

21ST CENTURY SKILLS LEARNED AND PRACTICED

Pinterest Application (20 points)

• Pinterest board is created and properly labeled• Board description section is used for the theme of the

book• At least 30 pictures are included• All pictures are relevant to the book• All pictures are annotated/explained• All pictures are retrieved from appropriate websites

ASSESSMENT

Literature Application (20 Points)

• Identified each of the story elements using pictures• Theme is identified • Includes five instances of citation from the book• At least two sentences for each photo• It is evident that the student has read and completed the

novel

ASSESSMENT CONT.

Conventions(10 Points)

• Spelling• Grammar• Punctuation• Sentence flow

50 Points total

ASSESSMENT CONT.

THE GREAT GATSBY

• Commenting• Presentation• Literature Circles

VARIATIONS

• Good for visual learners. • The resulting project will be neat by default, helping

those students who may have trouble making things look nice.

• Teaches students 21st Century skills. • It is engaging.

PROS

• Need to be 13 to access Pinterest. • Now need to log into Pinterest with either a Facebook or

Twitter account.• Parents may not want their children to use this site for

that reason.• Teacher will have to look at each individual Pinterest

board to make sure the student has completed the assignment.

CONS

• Houck, Colleen. (June 14, 2012). Tiger’s Curse. Retrieved from http://pinterest.com/colleenrayhouck/tiger-s-curse/

• Pinterest.com (June 11, 2012). Help. Retrieved from http://pinterest.com/about/help/

CITATIONS