"See it! Pin it!" Interactive Classroom

I'm always looking for new and innovative ways to make my class more relevant and interactive for teenage 7th and 8th graders. Recently, during one of my insomnia episodes, I was messing around on Pinterest (another one of my addictions) and had an epiphany. Why not create a classroom pin board! I thought to myself. So, today, I finally created it.

I changed the title after I took this picture and it isn't quite finished, but at least it gives you an idea. For extra credit points students can bring in clippings from magazines, pictures of signs, screen shots from the Internet, and any visual from a source outside of school. They bring it to class, pin it in the corresponding category, then share their pin with the class. For instance, under the "Grammar" pin board, I want kids to find examples of grammar mistakes in published writing and from public places.  They will bring in a caption of the "grammar blunder" (that's what I plan to call it, pin it to the board, and share what they found to the class. I am hoping that by making a classroom pin board, kids will be encouraged to see the value of word knowledge, proper grammar, reading, and sharing of ideas outside the classroom. I'll let you know how it goes!