Using Prezi

This project began as a daunting task, and even after choosing my topic, I was overwhelmed by the numerous resources available within Discovery Streaming. I began slowly by selecting various video segments and images that would help to build my unit. All the video clips and images I selected seemed like disjointed pieces of information, with no connection or meaning. Getting started with this project helped me to realize that I tend to struggle with synthesis.

Most students have great knowledge about the animals that surround them. However, learning and discussing the similarities and differences among various animals as well as among animals and humans requires a disciplined knowledge base. By combining three different content types offered by Discovery, I feel my students will be more apt to synthesize their prior knowledge with the new information obtained from this presentation.

This project serves two purposes, the first one being this assignment, and the second for use in the classroom. The information from Discovery is great, and paired with the five discussion questions after each segment, my students will prove to be the invaluable part of the lesson. It is the individual student responses, and the connections that they share, that will help ensure the synthesis of the material. While this project was very time consuming and challenging, I feel that it will be even more rewarding. I am eager to see the responses from my students as we move through the unit with this Prezi.

The Prezi and the discussion are part of the whole group component of the unit. In order to measure student mastery of the standards there will be extension activities that correlate with the the whole group instruction. Some possible assignments include, but are not limited to:

a wordle about each animal
venn diagrams comparing two or three different animals
a descriptive writing on an animal
a drawing to compare an animal to a human.

This project required a synthesis of ideas on my part. I am pleased with the final product, and even more pleased with the fact that this will be a very useful tool in my classroom. With synthesis, comes a sense of accomplishment, and I hope that with this presentation on animals my students will recognize connections and experience a similar sense of accomplishment.

http://prezi.com/9lqh-hc2pshk/animals/