Pinterest Writing Prompts

  When I first started using Pinterest last summer I didn't quite "get" the fascination of it. OK...so it's a bunch of pictures. Now what? But the more I started pinning images and organizing them on different boards, I realized this simple concept is genius...and addicting! I use sqworl.com as a visual bookmarking site, but Pinterest is so much more. You get a rolling screen of pins from your followers. You can share them on Twitter and Facebook. You can easily repin to your boards. You can comment if you'd like, but interaction isn't necessary.
  And it can be used in education. I've organized boards of images that I wanted to share with my students. Most recently, I've followed my fellow teachers who have created writing-prompt pins. Share one of these with your students each day, each week, once a month...whatever. Or, allow them the choice to pick out which picture prompt they wish to write about. Join the linky party link-up at The Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher's blog.
  Here's a great collaborative pin-board that Selina Smith from Classroom Magic and Kathy Wainwright from The Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher started with writing prompts: Writing Picture Prompts
  And here's a couple of mine you can add if you have created your own writing-prompt pinboard (click on the images to view larger size):

Image Prompt #1 

(Photo courtesy of Lionsgate Movies via TheCapitol.pn website, screenshot taken by T. Orman)

 Image Prompt #2:

Photo - T. Orman, 2011

WRITING PROMPT: Write about what you think is going on in this photograph. 
Why is the boy near the building? What are the objects in the air? 
Are they coming toward him or moving away? What makes you think so? 

What will happen next? Why?

  Are you using Pinterest? Do you use it for school? Share your links in the comment section below. You can follow me here: http://pinterest.com/mrsorman  I have several Hunger Games themed boards, including my newest one: Hunger Games Freebies Check out all the free lessons!

Thanks to Kathy & Selina for starting both the collaborative board 

AND the link-up party!

Pinterest = Highly Addictive & Visually Stimulating Way to Get Classroom Ideas!

Yes, I've become addicted to Pinterest.com. I love looking at all the pictures from others and reading all the funny quotes. It makes me feel closer to my fellow humans, like we really are all in this together.

This post is part of the linky party going on down at Michelle's Math in the Middle, which points you to a load of teachers who are also "pinning."

I created a Hunger Games Board for all things Hunger Games-related. I also have several other teaching-related boards, as well. You can find them all at www.pinterest.com/MrsOrman If you need an invite to this fabulous site, let me know!

Here are some of my favorite pics from various boards:

What's On Your Summer Reading List?

There are plenty of summer reading lists for students, but what about the teachers? What is on YOUR summer reading list? Join the link party blog hop and post your summer list, or just peruse the lists to get ideas for yours. Either way, it's one way to spread literacy and talk about books!

These are the current books I have waiting for me to read. Of course, I am sure it will change over the course of the summer, with some being dropped, some being read, and news ones added. Feel free to comment if you have read any of these (no spoilers, though, please!) or have suggestions for other books.

1. The Mockingbirds by Daisy Whitney

(From Amazon.com) "First-time author Whitney boldly addresses date rape, vigilantism, and academic politics in an intense and timely novel... Besides showing skill in executing suspense and drama, Whitney masterfully evokes the complexity of her protagonist's emotions, particularly her intense longing to feel 'normal' again." Publishers Weekly (Starred review)

2. Matched by Ally Condie

(From Amazon.com) Amazon Best Books of the Month, December 2010: For Cassia, nothing is left to chance--not what she will eat, the job she will have, or the man she will marry. In Matched, the Society Officials have determined optimal outcomes for all aspects of daily life, thereby removing the "burden" of choice. When Cassia's best friend is identified as her ideal marriage Match it confirms her belief that Society knows best, until she plugs in her Match microchip and a different boy’s face flashes on the screen. This improbable mistake sets Cassia on a dangerous path to the unthinkable--rebelling against the predetermined life Society has in store for her. As author Ally Condie’s unique dystopian Society takes chilling measures to maintain the status quo, Matched reminds readers that freedom of choice is precious, and not without sacrifice.--Seira Wilson

3. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (inspired by an idea by Siobhan Dowd)

(From Amazon.com) This is an extraordinarily moving novel about coming to terms with loss. The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming...The monster in his back garden, though, this monster is something different. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth. Costa Award winner Patrick Ness spins a tale from the final idea of much-loved Carnegie Medal winner Siobhan Dowd, whose premature death from cancer prevented her from writing it herself. Darkly mischievous and painfully funny, "A Monster Calls" is an extraordinarily moving novel of coming to terms with loss from two of our finest writers for young adults.

4. Unwind by Neal Shusterman

(From Amazon.com) "Gripping, brilliantly imagined futuristic thriller...The issues raised could not be more provocative--the santuary of life, the meaning of being human--while the delivery could hardly be more engrossing or better aimed to teens."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

5. Feed by M.T. Anderson

(From Amazon.com)

Amazon.com Review

This brilliantly ironic satire is set in a future world where television and computers are connected directly into people's brains when they are babies. The result is a chillingly recognizable consumer society where empty-headed kids are driven by fashion and shopping and the avid pursuit of silly entertainment--even on trips to Mars and the moon--and by constant customized murmurs in their brains of encouragement to buy, buy, buy. Anderson gives us this world through the voice of a boy who, like everyone around him, is almost completely inarticulate, whose vocabulary, in a dead-on parody of the worst teenspeak, depends heavily on three words: "like," "thing," and the second most common English obscenity....
Although there is a danger that at first teens may see the idea of brain-computers as cool, ultimately they will recognize this as a fascinating novel that says something important about their world. (Ages 14 and older) --Patty Campbell --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

6. If I Stay by Gayle Forman

(From Amazon.com)

Product Description

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces - to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heart-wrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time.

7. Paper Towns by John Green

(From Amazon.com) Green...delivers once again with this satisfying, crowd-pleasing look at a complex, smart boy and the way he loves. Genuine--and genuinely funny--dialogue...mystery...and delightful secondary characters. A winning combination. --Kirkus Reviews

8. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

(From Amazon.com) "For pure story, this colorful, headlong tale of a Depression-era circus simply can't be beat. Heroes, villains, romance, a wild-animal stampede! Big fun from page 1."—Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly: "Best & Worst 2007" (Entertainment Weekly ) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

9. (Finish) Willow by Julia Hoban

(From Amazon.com) Willow's acknowledgment of the cause of her grief--that she'll never be anyone's daughter again--is a sharp insight, and Hoban's appropriately complex portrayal of cutting makes this a good choice on a crucial subject. --Kirkus Reviews











10. For pure smutty pleasure/entertainment I may read a novel by Janet Evanovich, as well. Sometimes you just gotta have fun, right?
















11. ??? Open for suggestions! Please post any you have below.


And please join this BLOG HOP! It's the first one I've hosted. :)