Using Prezi with Students

Every year at our graduation dinner, the eighth graders put together a slide show to present to parents and teachers.  In the past, parents or the technology teacher created the show for the students.  When I became tech teacher, I wanted students to create the slide show.  They created it in Windows Movie Maker, but only one person could work on the presentation at a time.  It was also a challenge to get students to "remember" to bring in photos to be used in the slide show, even when I made it a part of their grade.  It was a long process and I ended up doing a large portion of the work: transitions, putting in the music, etc - this was not my plan, but we were running out of time!

This year, my very creative group of eighth graders decided they would like to use Prezi, an online presentation software tool, to create their slide show.  There were several benefits to this idea:

• students could work on it at home, at school, anywhere!
• it was their idea
• they all knew how to use Prezi
• most students found it easier to access their photos at home

That being said, the slide show was finished and I did not have any hand in the creation - this was my dream!  A project totally created by the students.  Although it took time to load it worked wonderfully and parents were impressed!  Wanted to post the finished product, but would need to get lots of permission first......