BP_3Prezi

Hello All,
This assignment could not have come at a better time. I have been using a web 2.0 tool called Popplet in my classroom for the past 3 weeks. I choose Popplett because it gave my special needs high school students away to make a visual study of our 50 states. Each student took a States Flashcard and used it as a reference. The students worked in pairs and searched in google for web images to place in their Popplet about their state. The students loved it! The assignment was going smoothly until it came time to add some photo images to their Popplets. The computers in my room are older and do not have lots of RAM in them, so my students found that Popplet was not working well with images. Seems that because of the lack of on board RAM images would be freeze up when they were loaded into a Popplet. Here is a screen shot of one of the popplet

Here is a short video of my class using Popplett:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F42XNuF_RZw

So what do I do with that issue? Well I know I cannot change the amount of RAM I have in each workstation, I was able to find the web 2.0 tool called Prezi. www.prezi.com. Prezi is a presentation software tool that allows my students to start with a blank canvas. They will be able to enter the information and load images with no problems. I experimented on the workstations before hand so I know that Prezi will work well. The other good thing that has happened is that I have a new Promethean Interactive Whiteboard installed in my classroom. This means that I can teach how to use Prezi while my students mirror what I am doing on the white board. Here is a short video of my students learning Prezi. The activity went pretty good, but I think I will end up changing the way we use it.

Here is a short video of my class learning how to use Prezi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdB-xppuSyA

The whole experience was fun and a little stressful. My students struggle at times with their computer skills, so I have to be careful and keep the lesson functional