Prezi as a Presentation and a Teaching Tool...

Prezi can do so much for an educator...engage all students, chunk information into digestible bites, develop 21st century skills. I love to use Prezi as an interactive graphic organizer in the classroom. When I design my lessons using Prezi I am able to organize images, videos, and other resources into a story line to create a dynamic visual representation of valuable knowledge, concepts, or ideas for my students.

I've had the opportunity to share this valuable tool with pre-service teachers and public school teachers at my university and at a local elementary school. Initially, presenting in front of a group of my peers seemed daunting, however educators were enthusiastic to learn how to "Prezify" their lessons and presentations. Many of the attendees of these workshops continue to stay in touch, I love to hear their stories about how they are using this amazing tool in the classroom. 

Explore a variety of resources and examples on how educators and students can use Prezi in their schools.

  

A Unit on Figurative Language...

Recently, I used this Prezi and a variety of children's literature to explore different types of figurative language with my 3rd graders. After reviewing the definitions and examples of one type of figurative language in the Prezi, we examined how author's use this type of figurative language in context. Sometimes, we read the entire text, sometimes we read snippets of the text, and sometimes we read the text 2 or 3 times. Some of the books we used include:

Some Smug Slug by Pamela Duncan

Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish

The Little Red Hen by Paul Galdone

The Little Red Pen by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel

Bedhead by Margie Palantini

Piggie Pie! by Margie Palantini

Cloudy Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

“Ode to Pablo’s Tennis Shoes” by Gary Soto

Shel Silverstein's poems

Then students became writers themselves as they created their very own Figurative Language Flipbook. Each "flip" was designated for a different type of figurative language. The students had to include the definition of the type of figurative language, at least one original example, and a picture to support their example(s). When complete with each flip the students would assess themselves using a rubric. 

This was, by far, one of the more enjoyable lessons for both me and the students that I've taught this year. Between the Prezi, the music video, the books, and the student's Figurative Language Flipbook, the students were completely engaged. The student rubric helped the student's to take ownership and reflect on their work. The students continued to sing the figurative language song throughout the day. They loved to tell me when they heard someone use figurative language or when they spotted it in a story. In fact, they loved it so much that we had to come up with a silent hand signal. To this day, when we hear figurative language we'll quietly touch our nose and smile!