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By Ava Wallace

Found In: advice & support

Pinterest, now famous for being the fastest-growing social media site ever with 31.2 million users after launching just a little over two years ago, is both a great tool for educators and dangerously fun.

The site may have reached such popularity because of its winning formula: the homepage is an attractive collage of pretty images users have chosen to share and the website itself has a useful function that differs entirely from social connectors like Twitter and Facebook.

This particular site focuses on an exchange of ideas – everything from recipes to D-I-Y solutions to fitness routines – rather than status announcements.

Think of Pinterest as an online bulletin board. Users create “Pins,” meaning pictures and links originally found on other websites, and put them on “Boards,” which is another term for categories, or how users organize their different pins. Users can share or like pins on others’ boards by “Repinning.”

Boards can have any theme. Some common boards that educators on Pinterst have are “Back to School Ideas,” “Classroom Decoration Ideas,” and “Craft Time Activities.”

The site can also be useful for educators looking for a little inspiration within their own subject. English teachers can pin their favorite books to share with other teachers and students on Pinterest, and math teachers can create boards centered around teaching times tables using creative math games, for example.

Those new to Pinterest can sign up for an account and start pinning immediately. See a great tip for a mess-free finger paint idea on your friend’s blog, or a neat way to create more space in the classroom? Pin it! And educators on Pinterest do not have to be tech savvy or even interested in expanding their online world: you can pin pictures and links from the websites you usually visit on to specific boards and use Pinterest as an organization tool that fits in to the busy school day.

If you’re looking for inspiration or ways to get started, here are some of the best education-specific boards we’ve seen on Pinterest so far!

Back-to-School Boards

• School – Back to School, pinaholic44
• Back to school, ebenedict2
• school ideas- back to school, cincy21
• Back To School, bobbiej

Behavior/Classroom Management

• Classroom Management, sglanz
• Classroom management, saritawilliams1
• behavior management ideas, katieleah

Classroom Setup

• Classroom Décor, amanda_plum
• Classroom Ideas, rachelfriedrich
• Fall Classroom Ideas, theocblog

Science

• Ideas for lessons and classroom decor, mandapanderz
• Science Ideas, rachelfriedrich
• Science (Experiments and Activities), rockabyeb

Art

• Projects for high school art classes, juliecannon
• Art projects, rockabyeb
• Ideas for arts integration, Edutopia 

Math

• Lesson Plan Ideas: Math, mandapanderz
• Teaching Math (Tools), amanda_plum
• Math Ideas, rachelfriedrich
• Math Classroom Ideas, theocblog
• Math (Activity Ideas), mel_dillard

Alphabet, Words and Spelling

• Alphabet Fun, momto2poshdivas
• Building good readers, abcpediatric
• Literacy, carolinalj

Healthy Schools

• Inernet Safety, NEA Health Information Network
• Healthy Eating, NEA Health Information Network
• Breakfast in the Classroom, NEA Health Information Network
• Move More in School, NEA Health Information Network
• NEA Health Information Network

How do you use Pinterest? Have suggestions for a great Back-to-School board to follow? Let us know in the comments!