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Pinterest in the Classroom

Who knew Pinterest could be used for things other than re pinning your ideal life?  This past week I have looked to Pinterest for inspiration for a U.S. History project.  Pinterest is a great source because you can search for specifics like 'Reconstruction', 'Civil War', 'School Projects' and 'U.S. History' and once you do hundreds of projects similar to the one I did popped up from teachers all over the world.  Pinterest gives you a look into other teacher's classrooms, it keeps you up to date on fun lesson plans and projects to incorporate into your classroom.

My Project, Specifically

After racking Pinterest for ideas I turned to voki.com for the perfect project for students.  Voki presentations allows you to make a slide show with an avatar that reads off your text.  For my Reconstruction/Civil War project I created a Voki that required students to create an avatar based off of a freed person, plantation owner, a Confederate soldier, or a Union soldier.  This project was based on the AR framework: Era5.2.8.5  Evaluate the legacy of the Civil War on the nation.
I then used Voki to introduce that avatar, tell about their reaction to the end of the Civil War, what aspects of that person's life would change, and their plans during Reconstruction.

First, you click on 'Create Presentation' and start to think about what you would like to create.

Then you click on the avatar option and either create your own (pick face, clothes, ect.) or choose one already made.  

Then you add text to each new slide.

You keep adding text and slides (and backgrounds if you want) until you're satisfied.  Then you can either record your voice for the presentation or select the text-type option and hit the 'start' button to play back the entire presentation with the avatar reading off your text.

Once you're done you would then present it to the class.

Thanks, Pinterest!

Now you've got a fast, easy, fun project that won't use up an entire week to create!  So overall, without Pinterest I never would have found the idea of an avatar presentation that puts students in the shoes of whatever person's life story they are sharing with the class.  Pinterest gives you creative, new, exciting things to share with your students.

My Project