My Most Pinned Pin

So, for the past week or so, I have been noticing a lot of traffic on my Pinterest page. I use the word traffic, but Pinterest doesn't necessarily track this in a way that is visible to the end user. However, every time someone repins something I have pinned to one of my boards, I get a notice on my phone, and my phone has blown up with people repinning one particular item.

Let me back up a bit for those that are unfamiliar with Pinterest. Pinterest is a social media idea board. What does that mean? That means the global digital community creates a "board" and "pins" photos, articles, videos, etc. to the board that relate to whatever topic the board is about. I currently have 87 board with 1.5k pins. Some of my boards include school related stuff, such as Professional Development,




and Blended Learning.




And then I have boards that reflect some of my passions, like Gardening,




and Cheesecakes.



The board that has been getting a lot of hits is called All Things Google for Education.



And this pin in particular.



I have to admit that this is a very awesome pin courtesy of TeachThough (www.teachtought.com) and Sylvia Duckworth (@sylviaduckworth). That's sort of why I pinned it in the first place...over a year ago. My district had just adopted Google Apps for Education (GAFE) to handle a lot of our other antiquated systems and I was preparing for what was suppose to be a vigorous training period for my teachers on how to use the various GAFE things. Training plans fell through because of planning snafus, staff shortages and lack of funding. However, when I held many one-on-ones with teachers and when they asked me where do they start, I always had this image in the back of my mind. This year, I think I will voluntarily make copies and hand them out of my teachers. You know, as a friendly nudge that technology is not a bad thing, nor is it hard to use in your classroom.

One thing that is left off, and I think should be included between Drawings and Hangouts, is Classroom. Google Classroom is a great way to organize assignments, dive deeper with questions and post important announcements. It's also great for keeping your grading straight. The best part: NO MORE LOST PAPERS!!! either by you or the students because not only are assignments easy to post, with handouts, but also easy for students to turn in.

As to why this particular post has my phone notifications hopping. Did I already mention its AWESOMENESS!!?? Other then that I can't say. I know a lot of teachers are working on back to school right now and GAFE had become this supper amazing thing for education. Even though I found its greatness a year plus ago, I think that just one person decided it was awesome at just the right time this year for a lot of other people to pick up on it and share in its fabulousness. That's simple how these social media things work. Dare I say that this is my first viral pin! Well then, here's to many, many, many more!!

Enjoy what is left of the summer, everyone! Remember, inspiration and teachable moments can be found everywhere.

Love, peace and happiness always,

 THE Mrs. MathMagician