Prezis

Last summer, a teacher at my school introduced me to Prezi. I played with it a bit last summer. After you get used to the concept and tools, it's a pretty neat way to use technology in the classroom.  I can make Powerpoints faster, so for the rest of the year I went back to Powerpoint.  However, I'm currently working on a Prezi for a professional development workshop I'm presenting and they've made some changes which I think makes it easier to use.

Last year I taught middle school intensive reading.  The first day of school I showed this All About Me Prezi as an introduction to an ice breaker with each of my middle school classes:

About Me on Prezi

A few days later I used this Education Prezi as a jumping off point to discussing individual goals. We talked about long term goals and short term goals.  Students referred to this Prezi many times throughout the year. I had one student with Asperger's syndrome who has decided he wants a Ph.D. in engineering as a result!  He questiond me about the details over and over until he felt that he truly understood it. Even thought I "know" it, I'm continually amazed at the power of visuals in the classroom. He earned a perfect score on the math FCAT this year. He really took the information seriously and has some intense long-term goals!

Long Term Goals on Prezi

Check it out, educators can use it for free!  There are some more Prezi links at http://aturntolearn.blogspot.com/2012/04/prezi-linky-party.html.