1. Title of Creating a Prezi Grade 6th-8th Grade Teachers
Unit and a Screencast Level (Regular Ed. and Resource)
Stage 1 – Identify Desired Results
Prezi is a free web based tool that creates a presentation without slides. The
presentation is created on a large canvas. The presentation moves around and
zooms in and out of different areas.
Jing is a software used to make screencasts. It is an easy and fun way to capture
images and create videos of what is on the screen.
Standards:
Standard 3: Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of
our democratic society.
Skills and Responsibilities:
3.1.3 Use writing and speaking skills to communicate new understandings effectively.
3.1.4 Use technology and other information tools to organize and display knowledge
and understandings in ways that others can view, use, and assess.
4.1.6 Organize personal knowledge in a way that can be called upon easily.
4.1.8 Use creative and artistic formats to express personal learning.
Understandings:
Participants will understand:
*The instructions to create a presentation using Prezi.
*The many advantages of using Prezi in classroom instruction.
*That creating a Prezi and a podcast enhances learning experiences for visual and audio
learners.
Participants will be able to:
*Differentiate instruction.
*Explain how creating audio and video enhance learning experiences for visual and audio
learners.
*Explain the advantages of using a Prezi and a Screencast in their classroom instruction.
*Create a Screencast using Jing.
*Add a Prezi and a Screencast to webpages.
Essential Questions:
*How do I create a Prezi?
*How do I create a Screencast?
*How can creating a Prezi and a Screencast enhance learning experiences for visual and
Audio learners?
*What are some of the advantages of using a Prezi and a Screencast in instruction?
2. Stage 2 – Evidence
Performance Task(s)
TASK:
Goal: The goal is to gain an understanding of and how to create a Prezi and a Screencast
for classroom instruction.
Role: An educator.
Audience: Your target audience is your middle school students – or any students.
Situation: As an educator, you would like to incorporate new technologies into your
classroom instruction to bring excitement and creativity out of your students.
Product Performance and Purpose: You will be successful in incorporating new
technologies into your instructions by observing the examples, understanding the
instructions, and creating a Prezi and Screencast.
Standards and Criteria for Success: Participants will share their creations and evaluate
their performance.
Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences
1. Introduction – Facilitator and participants will introduce themselves.
2. Introduction of technologies – Facilitator will introduce the two technologies that
will be introduced.
3. Examples – Examples of a Prezi and a Screencast will be shown to the participants
on an Interactive Board.
4. Directions – Instructions to creating a Prezi and a Screencast are distributed to
participants. Directions are examined before they began.
5. Creating – Participants will follow instructions to create a Prezi and a Screencast. A
prezi will be created first. The facilitator will walk through and assist participants
and they create their products.
6. Share – Participants will share their final products.
7. Evaluation – Participants will create an Evaluation and encouraged to use in the
following weeks.
3. How to Use Prezi
Creating an Account in Prezi
1. Open Prezi webpage located at http://prezi.com.
2. Under the Student/Teacher License section, click Go.
3. Choose the Education Enjoy free account. Complete all the required information
(name, username, password, etc.)
Creating a Prezi
1. To create a Prezi, click on the Create New Prezi button.
2. Type in a title, description, and click the Create button.
3. Click on the Prezi to open it and edit the presentation.
Managing Your Prezi
1. To manage your Prezi(s), click on the Prezi.
2. Under Manage, you may choose to publish the Prezi, download, delete, or save a copy of
the Prezi.
3. Under Share, you can create a group, add collaborators, or get the code to embed the Prezi.
4. Under Present, you can download a copy of the Prezi to work without an internet
connection.
Editing Your Prezi
1. To edit your Prezi, click to open it.
2. To add text, double click on the canvas and type.
3. To add an image, go to Insert, Load file.
4. To change your theme, go to Colors, and choose a theme.
5. To add a navigation to your Prezi, go to Path and choose your paths.
6. To add a Video, go to Insert, Load File. To add a YouTube Video, double click to paste the URL
in the textbox. It will automatically become the video.
7. To add Audio, go to Insert, Load File.
8. To add frames, go to Frame, then choose the style of a frame.
9. To add Shapes or highlight text, go to Insert, Shapes, then choose a shape.
10. To add PDFs, Excel, or PowerPoint files, go to Insert, Load File.
How to Start Your Prezi
1. To start the presentation, click Show (in the circle in the top left of the screen).
2. To present in Full Screen, click Show, Full-Screen.
3. To go back to edit, click the Space bar.
4. To navigate with the keyboard, use the back arrow (which goes back one step), forward arrow
(which goes forward one step) or top arrow (zooms in on path).
Resizing Text, Images, and Video in Prezi
The Zebra is used to scale, rotate, and move text and files in a Prezi
1. The center circle is used to move an object to another area of the canvas. Then, click and
drag the object to the area you want it to be placed.
2. The middle circle is used to scale an item. Click and drag to resize an object.
3. The outer circle is used to rotate an item. Click and drag to rotate the object.
4. The Plus Sign is used to bring up a side menu with more options like delete, duplicate,
select more, bring forward or send back.
4. Jing! Directions
Download the free software http://www.techsmith.com/jing/
To capture your screen along with your voice:
1. Open up Jing
2. When you put your cursor in the upper right of the screen, a yellow son will come out
3. Click on the (+) which is the top capture button
4. Drag the cursor so that you highlight the part of your screen that you want captured
5. Click on VIDEO
6. The application will activate the microphone and count down. Then, you can start recording.
7. Click on STOP when you are done.
Methods for Sharing and Saving:
Share: It copies the URL of the video to your clipboard so you can then paste into your email.
Embed: You are allowed to copy the source code and then copy it to a webpage.
Save: You can save the file like a normal file.
Some tips for making great screencasts.
• Bring up a Word document and in large font type in your objectives for the screencast
• Speak clearly and slowly.
• Keep it simple. Break it up into manageable pieces.
• Best length for screencasts (for students and for uploading purposes): 5 minutes
5. Self-Assessment Questions
1. On a scale of 1-5 with 1 being easy and 5 being difficult, how would you rate the
activity? What are reasons for the rating you gave?
2. Would you feel comfortable creating another presentation using prezi? Explain.
3. Do you think you would ever use prezi in you instruction?
Explain.
4. How could you incorporate prezi into your classroom instruction?
5. Did you learn anything new today? What?
6. Can you think of a lesson were you might use Prezi in your classroom? Explain.
7. Do you feel this lesson was worth your time? Do you feel this lesson is worth teaching to
other teachers? Why or why not?
6. Staff Development Reflection:
A Media Specialist has a responsibility to assist other educators stay current with the latest
trends in technology and education. This can be achieved by teaching Staff Development
classes and collaborating with other teachers. The Staff Development afforded me the
opportunity to act as a Media Specialist and teach technology to my fellow Social Studies
teachers. The lesson was taught at a regular scheduled Social Studies Department meeting.
I decided to teach creating a Prezi and a Screencast. I felt these technologies would catch
the attention of the teachers and could be fairly easy for them to use in their classroom
instruction. Both could be used in various capacities in the classroom. Although, I
prepared an Evaluation form to be completed by the teachers at the end of the lesson, I
received immediate feedback. The teachers were pleased and commented on different
ways a Prezi and a Screencast could be used in the classroom. The participants were
encouraged to use the technologies in the upcoming weeks in their classroom. Also, to
share what they learned with their teammates.
Since teaching a Staff Development was a new experience for me, I chose technologies that I
was somewhat familiar and could be very helpful in the teacher’s classroom. The small
group instruction prepared me for future larger group instruction. I will be teaching other
technologies soon.
To prepare for the use of any technology, I went to the Computer Lab beforehand to make
sure the computers were compatible for the technologies. I checked again the day before
the lesson. Also, an hour before the lesson was to be taught.
Overall, I thought the lesson was a success.