TechKNOWLEDGEy Tips: Prezi

Click on the link above to visit the Tech Tool: Prezi. If you haven't visited Prezi in a while, there have been several changes that may surprise you. Comment below on ways that you've used Prezi or plan to use Prezi in your classes.

Getting I.T. Right @ CeVMS!: Gaming in 7th grade ELA

Ms. Dugan's and Ms. Costa's 7th Grade ELA classes visited the computer labs to complete their how-to assignments. While here, students were instructed to create an educational game for one of their core subject areas. They had to research to find questions that were appropriate to the subject area, different game techniques, and board designs. Then, as a team, they had to design an electronic instruction sheet for their newly created game using Prezi, PowerPoint, ReadWriteThink's Printing Press, or Smore. The real test of their skills as game designers and technical writers came as the groups rotated through the each others' games and used the electronic versions of the instruction sheet to learn how to play the game. If the instructions for the game were well-written, the teams then had time to learn a little in each of the content areas.

Insider's tip: The teachers had students turn in their electronic products using a digital drop box like the one seen here. This makes it really easy for the teacher to capture all of the project URLs in one location--it's even sort-able!

Check out their process below:

Researching the time period to create the game in a subject area

Designing the Instructions using Prezi

Designing the online instructions with Smore

Finalizing the instructions for the game Waropoly

Playing the game using the provided instructions

Playing the game in class--Look at those props for the game Word Nerds!

A finished instructions product using ReadWriteThink's Printing Press

Referencing the printed version of the instructions to play the game during class.

Feature Me! --Getting I.T. Right @ CeVMS

Piktochart, Postermywall, and Smore...Oh my!

Sometimes you need more than just a poster to get your point across. Ms. Humphries' 7th grade English class took a leap and used some of the most recent TechKNOWLEDGEy Tips to create some great presentations

Here's what Ms. Humphries had to say about the projects her students completed:

"Students read a novel of their choice, and the culminating activity was to create a poster displaying symbols for character, plot, author's style and theme. Instead of the usual poster board project, students used Web 2.0 programs including Piktochart.com, Postermywall.com, and Smore.com. Some students also chose to use Prezi.com. The idea was to expose students to technology programs beyond the usual PowerPoint presentations or just a standard poster board. The real-life assignment is great for kids, especially in language arts when it's critical to professionally edit the work and have it ready to publish in its final draft form. In order to share, students engaged in a gallery walk and viewed each others' products while providing feedback."

Here are a few examples of the student work:

As Ms. Humphries stated, part of  the students' grade came from the peer review that they submitted regarding other students' projects. In order to accomplish this, she set up a gallery of computers and students rotated through offering glows and grows for each of the projects. Here's what that looks like:

Flippin' Out

Ms. Dowd and the journalism crew are at it again. They used one of the last TechKNOWLEDGEy Tips over Youblisher to produce a teaser for their yearbook: Check it out here.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

8th Grade Language Arts classes produced newspapers using Google Draw. Students were able to format their pre-written articles into a newspaper format in a collaborative area. Mr. Lankford, Ms. Sparks, and Mr. Richardson rocked

Check out some of Ms. Sparks' classes finished products. 

Check out some of Mr. Richardson's classes finished products.

Check out some of Mr. Lankford's classes finished products.

• Example 1
• Example 2
• Example 3
• Example 4

On the Town

Madame Macharia's classes have also spent some time in Google Draw recently. They created a "ville" or a "maison" for their project. 

Check out how detailed some of them were able to get:

This is how you do it...

If you've ever had trouble figuring out how to do something, look no further! Ms. Settemeyer's sixth grade class has you covered.

They incorporated several pieces of technology into one fantastic assignment! But it all begins with the how-to paper. Students were encouraged to explore Screencast-o-matic.com during the February 1st Digital Learning Day

Here are two that helped us out:

(In the video above, the student used Screencast-0-matic.com and voki.com to create their how-to)

(In the video above, the student used Screencast-0-matic.com and Prezi.com to create their how-to)

Not all of the students used Screencast-o-matic.com. Others chose a topic that required more physical demonstrations and used different personal devices and video editing software packages to create their how-tos.