STANDARD 6.6

Technology should be understood and utilized by educators so that they can reach their students and parents better to involve them in the learning process to the betterment of everyone. This means that I need to be familiar with the technologies I can use to get students interested in history and help parents understand what it is I'm trying to teach their children.

The biggest problem I seem to have with the Prezi (or any type of presentation technology) is that I'm never entirely sure how much is too much and when I'm too vague. I have trouble being able to find enough appropriate videos, music clips, images and other information. When I do find what I'm looking for, it's difficult for me to cull the wheat from the chaff. I am the type of person that does better when someone walks me through the different types of things I'm able to do with something and then from there, I'm usually able to take off on my own. Exploring something like this entirely on my own leaves me feeling more than a little bit intimidated in all honesty.

I'm thinking what I ought to do is set up a series of presentations and send them to my friends and family (and possibly some potential colleagues) and try to get a feel for what they think works best. While I plan to try and focus on history at an 8th grade level, I think any presentation where I'm able to acquire a better grasp of what I'm doing will help. I have a couple of nieces and a son who are approaching the 8th grade level and I will test out my presentations on them as well. They'll be able to give me input from a students' perspective as well. My grandfather was a university professor for many years and while he's not overly fond of some of the new technologies, I believe I can talk my grandmother into getting him to at least watch the presentations and give me some pointers.

Prezi 8th Grade History

Google Presentation 8th Grade History