Saturday, October 24, 2009

Let's Get Zesty With Prezi

Debbie and I are conducting a workshop on Prezi at the Sam Houston State Technology Conference on Saturday, October 23, 2009. Our presentation is in the form of a prezi and is embedded below. Included are snapshots and links of several student created Prezis. Prezi is a non-linear presentation tool that is so much better than PowerPoint. It can be used with virtually any subject at any grade level. We have found that students find prezis much more interesting to watch than traditional slide shows. They also feel that prezi presentations are both easy and fun to use. Both of us have had very positive experiences using Prezi with our students.


Conference participants please click on this link to share your Prezi with the group.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Technology In A Science Class

I wanted to share some ideas that I have used in both my Chemistry and Biology classes integrating technology with the WOW carts. To begin, I must tell you a little about me and my perspective with technology. I love using technology and learning new applications. I would spend hours working with various programs learning what they could offer me and my students. I wanted to share as much as I could with my students but was limited by computer availability and more importantly I was limited by my lack of imagination on how to implement the technology in a meaningful way in a science classroom. I have since been able to use certain Web 2.0 applications in my class to differentiate and support my students. In the beginning of the school year when we were reviewing safety in the science laboratory I assigned students to create a safety cartoon using ToonDoo. This was a modification on an existing assignment where the students would create paper safety cartoons.

\Toon\



Another program I have had success with is Wallwisher.
My biology students created walls of vocabulary terms for review of our cell unit. They were instructed to provide a description of the various organelles and include a picture for each term. I then borrowed Jill's great idea, I had the students submit a Google Form with their wall address to turn in the assignment. Because it timestamps the submission I was able to determine if the student was on time.

If you decide to use wallwisher make sure the students choose that anyone can view their wall but only they can add sticky notes. I would also suggest that you tell them not to overlap their sticky notes. They can extend below the viewable space on their page to add more. Make sure they stay within the width of the computer screen. This allowed me to print their virtual walls to post on my walls of our classroom. I