Final Project

Introducing my student's to Prezi was the most wonderful thing I could have done to start the year off! They are so used to doing all computer based presentations on power point. When they saw the features of Prezi on the examples I showed them, their little eyes opened as wide as they could go.
I introduced the lesson, and that got them hyped already. I always start the school year with lots of ice breakers and getting to know you activities. This year I focused the first week on culturally relevant material. We talked a lot about where each of the kids families originated from, their heritage, traditions etc. This was a great start to build on and tap into their prior knowledge for my create your own holiday Prezi project.
I showed them how they could create a Power Point and just simply import their slides into the Prezi and play with it from there. I also showed them the basics of how to simply create in the Prezi itself and let them watch the tutorial on the basic functions of the tool. I offered extra credit to anyone who wanted to create directly in Prezi, and full credit to all those who simply imported their slides from Power Point. I had several that wanted to dive right in and get their extra credit, and they found features and easy ways to do things that I hadn't discovered yet. This presentation style opened up so many good technology conversations and new ideas in the minds of my students, more than I had ever hoped for. By doing a project and introducing a new piece of technology into it for them, I think really made it more exciting for them. I had NO students not complete their project, and so many that begged for extended time to get everything just right. I can't wait until next week when we have presentation day and my students get to share their masterpieces, I have yet to see my 8th graders so proud and smell such a sense of accomplishment in the air. Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenarios are the way to go!!!

Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenario

Kimberly Duran

1.     Target Audience- 8^th grade inner city AVID Students

2.     Materials –

·      Construction paper

·      Markers

·      Scissors

·      Paper

·      Pen/pencil

·      Computer with internet

3.     Objectives –

·      Reflect and celebrate students’ individual and family traditions, methods, and religions. (Bloom’s-understanding, analyzing, evaluating)

·      Assist students in tapping into their own creativity as they research how to plan, create, and present their traditions to the class. (Bloom’s analyzing, evaluating, creating)

              At the end of this scenario the learner will be able to:

·      Analyze the origin of holidays and traditions based on family, traditions and/or religions.

·      Research and plan a new holiday based on the criteria provided.

·      Create a Prezi slideshow following guidelines provided.

1.     Procedure –

·      Instructor will share some of the common holidays that we have in America and the reason for these holidays, methods of celebration, traditional dress and food.

·      Students will review the list of holidays and answer the following prompts:

o   What is your favorite holiday?

o   What makes that your favorite holiday?

o   Describe some of your best memories that happened on or around that holiday.

·      Have the students share their answers to the questions at their tables/groups.

·      Post the following prompt on the board:

o   If you had the power to incorporate a new holiday into the calendar, based on some of your individual/family traditions, what would the holiday be?

o   After deciding on the holiday, have students answer the following questions about their holiday:

Ø  Name of the holiday

Ø  Date in the year

Ø  Colors

Ø  Symbols

Ø  Foods

Ø  Tradition

Ø  How this holiday started/what inspired this holiday?

Ø  Why does this holiday still exist today?

·      Students are to complete a Prezi presentation to ask Congress about adopting this new holiday. Be sure to include all the facts about this holiday and why it would be so important to have it added to the calendar.

·      Debrief

o   Following the completion of the presentations, students will reflect on the following:

Ø  How did it feel to share your family traditions with your classmates?

Ø  Were there other holidays in the class that you particularly enjoyed? Which holidays were they and why?

2.     Web 2.0 Tool – Prezi - Prezi is a presentation software that can open up a new world for your students between whiteboards and slides. It offers a never ending canvas that can be zoomed in and out on making it a fun way to explore ideas and relationships between them resulting in creative and entertaining presentations.

3.     Social participation/social learning: Several types of activities will go on through out the process of this assignment. Students will build upon prior knowledge through instructor explanation of different holidays.  They will also create several pieces of writing when answering the prompts given.  Collaboration will occur through discussion of their answers to the writing prompts. For more collaborative opportunities, assign groups and have each group come up with their own holiday instead of making it an individual project.

4.     Making connections –

a)    Students will connect with prior knowledge when the instructor gives a thorough explanation of each American holiday. Many of them probably know the holidays but may not know the origin, traditional dress etc.

b)   Students will be connected with relevance through discussion of the project objectives. Explaining to them that the purpose of the project is to celebrate and share each individuals family traditions etc. will make it relevant because it is relevant to their lives & families. Also allowing them to create something of their own gives them choices and ownership in the creation of knowledge, which will further engage them and add to the relevancy of the assignment.

c)    Learners will connect with a local or global audience through sharing out there presentations.

1.     Create/produce – The finished product will be a Prezi presentation asking Congress to adopt their newly created holiday.

2.     Assessment –

Criteria	90-100  A	80-89   B	70-79     C	60-69    D	0-59    F
All 8 facts included	All 8 questions answered to the best of the student’s ability	Only 6 criteria questions answered	Only 4 criteria questions answered	Only 2 criteria questions answered	Required Criteria is not included
Images/ visuals	At least one visual present on every slide	Visuals present on only half the slides	¾ of the slides contain visuals	¼ of the slides contain visuals	No visuals included on the slides
Cohesion/ flow	The order of the movement of the Prezi has definite flow	Half of the Prezi has definite order and flow	¾ of the Prezi has definite order and flow	¼ of the Prezi has definite order and flow	There is no order to the entire Prezi
Visibility	All text and visuals in each movement are fully visible	Half of the text and visuals in each movement are fully visible	¾ of the text and visuals in each movement are fully visible	¼ of the text and visuals in each movement are fully visible	No visuals or text are fully visible in the movement of the Prezi.
Title & Closing Slide	Prezi includes a title & closing slide	Prezi includes only a title or closing slide			Prezi does not include a title or closing slide

3.     Reflection

a.     Learner’s will reflect on the experience through answering the debrief questions:

How did it feel to share your family traditions with your classmates?

Were there other holidays in the class that you particularly enjoyed? Which holidays were they and why?

b.     The instructor will reflect through:

1.     Evaluating the number of completed projects

2.     Evaluating the grades on the projects

3.     Open discussion or survey from the students asking for feedback on the assignment.