Today, I had an epic teacher fail.
- I created a Pinterest account for my class using the wrong email address.
- While trying to login, everyone accidentally created individual accounts (using our class email account spelled incorrectly in a wide variety of ways).
- When you create a new account, you have to pick several topics to follow. Since this is a class account, I chose animals, which completely covered our homepage with pictures of kittens. This was very distracting, obviously.
- You can’t delete an account without confirming a link in an email, so all of my students’ made-up accounts with misspelled email addresses can’t be deleted.
- Once I got the right login information, the boards that I had created earlier weren’t there (because they were on the original account with the wrong email address).
Needless to say, I ended the lesson prematurely. I just didn’t have any more patience with all of my compounded mistakes and everyone squealing over kittens. Sigh. A valuable lesson for me, not much learning for my students.
Teaching With Mrs. Clark 
If it’s any consolation, I had that epic fail with posting Amazon reviews.
Well… with NOT posting Amazon reviews.
For a lesson that was supposed to be part of my evaluation.
Tomorrow’s a new day. With kittens.
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It is a good lesson for your students in not giving up, trying a different way to get to your goal, and being open and patient when things don’t go according to our plans. At the very least, it is a funny story they may remember, especially because of the kittens.
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This sounds like an epic teacher fail you can laugh at later! Unfortunately, I feel like this happens when first introducing something using technology. I have had my fair share of teacher fails just like this, always involving tech! Also, I love that the page was covered in kittens. That made me LOL. 🙂
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I guess it is okay for our students to realize that we also make mistakes and we learn from them.
That is a good lesson for the students, too.
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Definitely a growth mindset / learning from mistakes lesson. At least it was just pictures of cute kittens! I once googled “Provocative pictures” looking for a picture that would spark good conversation. Not a very productive search.
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We, as teachers, have all been there! We get so excited and then the wheels start falling off the bus! Typing in email addresses is the worst! Keep at it. Don’t give up!
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Sometimes you just have to call it quits. But this is a good thing for kids to see – knowing when to call it quits and then regroup and try again.
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This made me giggle. I can picture it completely, as I have been there a million times with integrating new tech. At least you got a slice out of it!
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I feel your pain and this made me giggle as well! I have come to believe that seeing me make mistakes makes me a real person.
Tomorrow will be better.
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It always seems like such a great idea to tackle a new technology, when you are at home in your slippers. We’ve all had those completely disastrous tech moments. Still, at least your kids got to admire millions of kittens. 😂
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Any teacher worth her a place in the classroom has had an experience—probably many depending on her time teaching—like this. I had a similar “fail” (think: tomorrow is another day!) the day I introduced glogster, and don’t get me started on how scathing my students were in their critique of my handling of our first 20-Time venture. At least your kids were happy, kittens with cream; never ask an eighth graders anything unless you’re willing to face brutal honesty. Tomorrow IS another day.
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I’m sure the students learned how to deal with situations that don’t go as planned! And to see someone make a mistake and recover! And how cute kittens are! Hope your next Pinterest lesson goes well!
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This made me laugh a little because I can totally see this happening to me too. And the kids learned from this. Mistakes happen and sometimes you gotta just go with the flow – and squeal at some kittens!
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Think of it this way: You didn’t show your students naked people, which I’ve acvuddntally done. Kittens are forgiving.
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