Let me start by stating, you can use Pinterest or Teachers Pay Teacher with effectiveness. The trick is to use activities from these sources with designed purpose. It is easy to look at the activities provided on Teachers Pay Teachers and simply adopt them. However, teaching is much more than activities so it is critical to teach using a mindful approach to instruction.
As with any good instruction, we must go through a process.
1. Establish goals and essential questions.
2. Design assessments that are connected to these goals.
3. Set up activities that adequately prepare students for the assessment and for transferring knowledge to other areas of life.
The problem with finding a topic and running to a resource someone else has created is it may not meet the established goal. The critical first step in lesson design is establishing a goal and knowing what essential questions need to be pondered. Activities should only be designed after a deep dive into "what are the goals" and "what evidences can be used to prove students have a deep understanding of these goals." I understand the interest in having a prepackaged lesson handed over to you. However, the real power in teaching is connecting the activities directly to the goals.
Take a much deeper look at lesson design in "Understanding by Design" by Wiggins and McTighe (2005)
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