The Frenzy over Prezi! Prezi III

Putting Prezi in the Hands of Students

Following “The Art of Teaching Reading” by Lucy Calkins method, it is time for me to put Prezi in the hands of my students.  After I have a talk with my principal about using online tools (which are not normally a part of our district), I am hoping to ask each student to create their own Prezi outline of the book they are currently reading as their final project.  I think this would be a great project that would differ greatly from my traditional fill-in handout.

Great uses for Prezi in the Classroom
https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_238djxmbfhd 

Students and teachers can use the zooming tool to focus on a particular point or section of an image (Panag, 2010). Students and teachers can create dynamic Venn diagrams using the “frame” command. Venn diagrams made using this method are able to contain images as well as text; it is also interesting to note that images can be dragged during a discussion or presentation. Another great feature of Prezi is the ability to embed YouTube videos right into a presentation. All that is required is an internet connect. Prezi is a great program that allows for user imagination during the project development process to create original seamless transitions from on point to another (Panag, 2010).  Students and teachers can create Prezi presentations that are either focused on a specific topic or question, or they can decide to continue building upon their Prezi presentation as a topic is being learnt.

To help students organize their thoughts, Prezi can create mind maps to serve as graphic organizers that allow online users to add text as well as images (Yee, 2010).  This tool can be of great benefit to students with unique learning needs or ones who are visual learners.   This type of mind map can help students outline the progression of a story they are reading, the different phases of the water cycle, or the events that helped bring Canada together to form our country (Yee, 2010).

Prezi is a tool that can assist students to create excellent persuasive arguments using tools other than pencil and paper. Students can create superb adverts in a matter of minutes. This way students can focus on the writing and not on the technology.  Students will need to capture their work using a free online tool called “Screencast-o-matic” to digitally record their work.

Using Prezi students and teachers can also upload images from Google Street view, as well as PDFs of documents that need to be either highlighted or discussed. They can also use zoomed in photographs to highlight historical or current events and can gradually reveal the wider context.  

References 

Panag, S. (2010). A Web 2.0 Toolkit for Educators. Youth Media Reporter, 489-91.

YEE, K., & HARGIS, J. (2010). PREZI: A Different Way to Present. Turkish Online Journal Of Distance Education (TOJDE), 11(4), 9-11.