Emerging Technology I

      As a Language Arts Teacher, I am constantly searching for new ways to engage my students.  Each month the class constructs a book report.  They have their usual choice of creating a diorama, a poster, or writing a description of the main points from the book.  By the time my children arrive to Sixth Grade, they are ready for something new and exciting.  The Prezi can achieve this task in a challenging and fascinating manner.
Prezi Uses for my Classroom!

      A few weeks ago I overhead some young Graduate Students discussing their presentation for a class that they were taking.  They wanted to use a Prezi as a tool to present their research to the class.  I thought to myself, I don't even know what this is!  My young daughter, a Seventh Grader,  quickly filled me in to what a Prezi looked like and how I could incorporate into my curriculum.  Wow! I thought what a perfect way to spice up my monthly book reports.  Students can share their main points about the book and add pictures to connect their classmates to the novel.  They could even create a different ending for the book to share with the class.  My favorite thing about using a Prezi to summarize a book is how there are lines to connect points.  It offers organization for that child that needs extra support.

Challenges or Problems:
       Unfortunately, learning Prezi is not an easy task.  It was time consuming.  It took me about four hours to learn.  I know that many of my Sixth Graders probably can and will grasp this concept in a shorter amount of time, but there are a lot of gadgets to learn.  The Prezi could be difficult to maneuver for a student that is not adapt with keyboard.  Some of the tools are sensitive.  You can purchase a Premium Prezi, but it does cost money, which could be a problem as well.  I used the free one from the internet.  As with most technology, the teacher would have to monitor the students and this can be difficult to do with twenty-five students.