Put the Presenter back in your Presentation

One of my pet peeves with Power Point is that often the person that is speaking is simply reading bullets off the screen.  One of my friends, Kyle, introduced me to Prezi.  It's the anti-bullet presentation software.

Prezi is free if you are an educator and have an education email address.  I had difficulty getting the confirmation email through my school address because of our filters, but it was worth the trouble.

Prezi gets the presentation to focus on key words and allows you to zoom, twist, flip, show video, pan back out and move through your presentation on one main screen.  Your emphasis is made by the size of the text and how you frame it.  You can add video, pictures, and sound.  Instead of focusing on one frame and then leaving it, Prezi allows you to zoom out to the main frame and keeps the presentation as a whole.  It's a really cool way to keep kids from getting bored, because they have listen and participate and look for the key words - it keeps them engaged.

The concept is cool - it's worth it to watch the intro and tutorial videos to learn it and to ask a friend when you get stuck.  It's not a perfect software, but one that is worth it.  Kyle's bride, Jenny, used Prezi at a big presentation of PR guru's from major universities and impressed them with the flow and the fact that she discussed and presented and did NOT just read a Power Point.  They were my PLN connection that got me re-inspired to use Prezi after I got bored and frustrated.  That was important.

I attached a link to the Prezi I finished about the new NC Professional Teaching Standards, which is now public and one you can use as a template.  The videos are from You Tube and may not show unless you have access to the you tube videos.  I still need to figure out how to shorten the clips and get them to focus on the main point of the clip for some of the longer ones.  Click on SHOW and use the arrow keys for the easiest movements through the presentation.  There is still some editing to do.  I would love to hear from someone that knows what to do about getting better video clips.

http://prezi.com/cn5x6tecra6g/

Learning the Web 2.0 is like learning to use a Blackberry

This is an epiphany I had recently in trying new technology and trying to create a Personal Learning Network (PLN)

Step 1 - Be brave enough to try it.

I was finally brave enough to get a smartphone over the winter break.  I really wanted an iPhone, but couldn't get the cell phone coverage with AT&T and I really needed the smartphone to stay connected with my email and calendar - hence I became a Crackberry addict.

Step 2 - Be brave enough to ask someone who knows more than you

The way I learned to use my Blackberry was to ask the experts (the teens at church).  I learned what the little R and D meant in Blackberry messenger and that I needed to download the NEW bbm in order to "scan" barcodes.  (ask a teen what that last sentence means)

Step 3 - Show/Teach someone else how to do it

Next, I showed a few of my principal and AP friends how to download and use bbm.  The next thing I knew, I got a voice chat from one of them (I didn't realize I could do that.)  So what did I do - I sent my next friend a voice chat, so she knew how to do it.

So...Create your own PLN

It took me about 2 weeks of trying new programs, like Facebook, Twitter, Google Docs, Prezi, Google Earth, and others to realize that the key to learning NEW TECHNOLOGY on the Web 2.0 is to create what Stephen Anderson of Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools called a Personal Learning Network (PLN).  Use Google Reader to keep up with a few blogs; participate in a NING; try Twitter; use Google Docs to collaborate with people in and outside of school.  What that means is you use the technology to ask questions and get help and then you teach others that skill or idea.  That way you really LEARN how to use it because you did it...isn't that the best way to learn anything...

Speaking on a different level

With the technological tools of today, we can engage our students and get them to CREATE on a new level.  Using a simple flip video camera and some audio (this one of a friend playing a Ukulele) students can create their own Poetry video.  They can SPEAK to each other on another level.

Kyle Leonard, who taught with me for 3 years at Eppes Middle School, now teaches at Cal-Mum Elementary near Rochester, NY.  He had one of his top students, Olivia and one of his top musicians from his Uke club, Marcus, collaborate to produce the video below.  The premise is simple with the technology today.  Olivia recorded herself speaking her poetry (listen to the pages turn) and Marcus played a cool tune with his uke (or you can have other music in the background).  Marcus got on an overhead cart (or a rolling chair) and videoed Olivia walking silently and pausing at a window.  Overlay all of that in a video editing program an in less than an hour, students produced this...

http://www.box.net/shared/042xihe4us

I'm a big fan of a book Cheryl Olmstead introduced me to "Annual Growth for All Students and Catch Up Growth for those that are Behind".  I was talking to my grandfather about it last night and he made me think (like he always does).  He asked what will the brightest students do while those that are behind are getting help in the specific reading skills they need.  He asked me how are we going to engage our highest level students, so we don't let them slip through the cracks...I say let them create something...