Projecting Pinterest

"I follow you on Pinterest!" was the exclamation I received from a 4th grade girl in art class last week. Not what I expected to hear as I directed my Upper El students to look at the wall where I was projecting images of Art Nouveau. 

I was quite taken aback. Most of my students hadn't heard of Pinterest and were confused as to why my name was at the top of the screen; never mind that one of my students was following my pins-- and I didn't even know it. My fearful surprise quickly turned to excitement. Perhaps this was another learning tool?

I had been pinning images of Art Nouveau for my own inspiration and lesson planning. But, when I needed to introduce this movement to students before we began our scratchboards, I was flat out of time to create a powerpoint or print out a slew of images. I settled on the idea of projecting my Pinterest board on the wall over my desk. Not only was it a mega time saver, but it facilitated a sincere conversation with more ease because we could focus on the images that caught their eye. It worked well. We could easily see similarities between the works that made it Nouveau. 

Pinterest has become my new and unintentional school-to-home connection. I'm not sure if any other students have followed me, but if they do they will be inundated with art images. Now that I'm aware, I'm thinking of my pinning with more purpose. How Nouveau...

Has anyone else shared their Pinterest page with students or used it in a similar way? What have your experiences been?

(Also note, my desk is NEVER really that clean.)