Most of us have had a Pinterest account at some point but very few know how valuable it can be.

I can already hear you say, “Why would I spend time using Pinterest when I already have a full-time job as a Teacher” Well, simply put Pinterest is a brilliant tool to help with ideas for your teaching and a platform for you to put your creations and ideas on to help fellow teachers and new teachers just starting out.

To cover all bases for those that have never used Pinterest. Pinterest is a visual platform kind of like Instagram; the pictures are what grabs the user’s attention.

Some basic Pinterest Terms and what they mean.

Pins or Pinning: When you find an image, idea, tips or even recipes you like, hit the pin button to store it to your profile.

Boards: This is where your pinned items go. You can create as many boards as you like to keep organised. Take our Staffroom Pinterest as an example. We have boards for using Technology in the Classroom, Classroom Party ideas and Tips and tricks for new Teachers.

Repin or Repining: If someone likes the images you have been uploading they can repin it to their own board. The more repins the more people your work is reaching.

Pinners: A Pinner is someone who is an active pinner on Pinterest. Add or follow active pinners in the Education section for helpful ideas and tips.

Do you often find yourself looking for ideas for your classroom decoration, ways to help manage your class, or how to manage your own workload? This is where you can help organise and utilize all these ideas into one place.

To get you started here are a few Education Pinterest accounts you can follow to start you off.

Teach123: has a following of over 100,000 and although based in California there are loads of ideas for classroom décor, activities and inspiration.

Edteach & Digital Learning: has over 14,000 followers and focuses on educational technology resources to enhance your lessons and to engage your students.

Teaching Ideas and Apps: with 13,000 followers this account pins ideas for teaching and different Apps you can use in your classroom.

Mr. S Teacher & Lifelong Learner: This is a perfect example of how valuable Pinterest can be as a Teacher. Mr. S has 11,000 followers and a range of boards from reading comprehension to First Day of Activities Ideas.

We Are Teachers: We Are Teachers collect the best crafts, activities, lessons and classroom ideas for Teachers across all ages. They also have a massive following of 155,000.

Pinterest is very easy, and you can simply use it like a google search. Luckily Pinterest has a search bar right at the top to make things nice and easy. For those that just want to look for ideas, you can now go off and start pinning to your hearts content. But for those of you who would like to create your own little following like Mr. S keep reading!

Now for the nitty gritty.

The word SEO gets thrown about a lot and for you and me it simply means Search Engine Optimization. This is what will get people to find your page easily when they type in Education or Teacher. When someone is searching for something they will type in certain Keywords such as Teacher Tips or Classroom Management. Which is why keywords are key to you using SEO to your advantage.

Profile Description

Your profile description is a great place to start putting in those keywords so that fellow Teachers can easily find you.

Here is our Profile Description:

Proud ambassador of the Education sector in Wales. Providing temporary teaching jobs across the country!

It’s short and to the point. It says exactly who we are and what we do. I’ve also highlighted the keywords our key audience would be searching for. Your profile description is a chance for you to show who you are and what your Pinterest account is about.

Boards

Now that your profile is all set up its time to start pinning. If you want to create an account as a Teacher for Teachers think about the kind of boards, you want to create. It would be strange to see an account about tips and tricks for Teachers and find boards about weddings and exercise. So, think about what boards you want to save for yourself such as classroom party ideas and what boards you want to create for others such as examples of your classroom decorations or little experiments you do in your class.

Here is ours as an example:

We have a few boards that we pin our creations to such as Staffroom Quotes, Teaching Infographics and Staffroom Job Opportunities. These boards only contain content that we have created. Where as our other boards such as Teaching Ideas, Thoughts of the Day and Teaching Experiments only contain images that we have repinned from other users.

Also, as you can see to make things neat and tidy we’ve also made board covers so that everything is uniformed and looks nice. For those of you savvy enough to create your own images our cover image size is 800px X 800px on Canva. Which we found is the perfect size for the Pinterest board covers.

Board Descriptions

Back to the importance of keywords it isn’t enough simply to name your board. Your board descriptions are extremely important. Use the board description as a way to get those keywords in and explain what your board is about. Naming your board Teaching ideas may be self-explanatory but use your description to say whether it’s ideas you’ve collected from elsewhere, if their your own ideas, and whether these teaching ideas may be aimed at Nursery, Primary or Comprehensive age. You are not only getting in those all-important keywords but also letting people know exactly what is contained within that board.

Here’s an example of ours:

You’ve probably also noticed we use Hashtags. This is an easy way to get those pesky keywords in if they don’t fit in with your description. So, hashtag like its Instagram.

Top Tip: If you happen to have a Teacher blog, when you create a pin you can add your blog website so that anyone that clicks that pin will be directed to your website. Isn’t that cool!

Group Boards

If you want to join a community, group boards are the way forward. It’s like a Facebook group where you can add your own pins to and share other peoples pins from that board to your own.

An easy way to find a group board is to find a board and look in the bottom left corner where the picture of the creator is displayed. If within that circle it shows multiple pictures, then it’s a group board.

Right now, there are a few ways to join a group board as you must be invited. Many group boards within their description state how to join, whether it’s commenting on one of the pins or sending the creator a direct message.

Here’s an example of how to find out who the creator is:

Now that you're up to speed you’re ready to go forth into the addictive world that is Pinterest.

Pin with us @staffroomed and comment below with your accounts so that we can give you a follow.

A Teachers Guide to Pinterest