Need to check out Lynda Barry's Tumblr

http://thenearsightedmonkey.tumblr.com/page/4

AMAZING! Some really great insights and comics!

Really Cool Fun Text

Check this out, by artist, Sougwen Chen
http://kinecdysis.sougwen.com

Art meets Hip Hop

I received this link from Nicole Marroquin, about how a contemporary photographer/ advertiser Cecilia Azcarate juxtaposes images of rappers with images from Art History.  The juxtapositions are striking.  I just thought this was really cool and an interesting idea for an art project to do with students. She also use tumblr to publish her findings, which would be a cool platform to use. 

Left: “The Adoration of the Magi,” copy after Hugo van der Goes (late 15th century); right: Wiz Khalifa (all images via BFXVI on Tumblr)

Mallonnee, Laura C. (Apr 15, 2014). "Hip-Hop meets Art History". Hyperallergic: Sensitive to Art and its Discontents.  Retrieved from http://hyperallergic.com/120555/hip-hop-meets-art-history/. 

Teaching Grit

I found this article on edutopia.com. Zakrzewski states that grit is, "...the interplay of thoughts and emotions, demanding a wellspring of inner resources to overcome the inevitable obstacles that arise when going full-force after a goal"(Apr 28, 2014).  Grit also helps to create more positive "self talk" which allows students to be more positive. This teaching of grit or toughness isn't often cultivated in schools, at least not in my student career.  The drive to pursue a goal even if it is difficult is hard to create and maintain in adults as well as in students.  It is hard to work through frustration and many times I think schools coddle students rather than help students work through these obstacles themselves. 

Zakrzewski, Vicki. (Apr 28, 2014). "Teaching Grit: Social and Emotional Truth." Edutopia.com. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/grit-social-emotional-truth-vicki-zakrzewski. 

Mortified Nation

So I just watched this documentary called Mortified, which documents adults reading from their childhood diaries. I have been struggling with a fear of working with high school students, not my main demographic. But thinking back and watching this documentary allowed me to access my inner adolescent and maybe make them less scary.



Anyways it is awesome and you should all watch it.

Using multiple intelligences in Arts Education

Woodrow Wilson Elementary in Bartlesville, Oklahoma utilizes art through out all the school's curricula. But through using the arts they target all 8 of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences.  Not only does the arts keep students engaged but they also target different ways students may learn.  This caught my attention because often we, or at least I,  think about art education and arts integration and thats it. But bringing in this other element to be cognizant of complicates arts education, but will make the curriculum richer and maybe more accessible. 


Smith, Fran. (2009). "Oklahoma's Arts Program Develops Multiple Intelligences." Edutopia. Retrieved from 
http://www.edutopia.org/arts-oklahoma-multiple-intelligences. 

Saw this on edutopia. It is really relevant to things we have been talking about when it comes mapping, critical geography, place and relvant/meaningful design all used to let students discover their personal power.

(2014). "How design Thinking can Empower Young People." Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/is-school-enough-design-thinking-video.

On the teaching channel I watched the video, Using Art to Help Students Express Social Issues, that showed a high school art classroom. The instructor talked about ideas of  physical wall and physical barriers. Then she moved to more conceptual abstract ideas of barriers. I really liked how the teacher was able to move from the physical  thing to the conceptual, which is often hard to accomplish.
Students used the artist reference, El Anatsui, in order to create a multi media piece students joined together three pieces of  recycled plexiglass.  
Students first researched a conceptual barrier, i.e. glass ceiling. Then they presented it to the class, so students were researchers and instructors, helping to co construct a body of knowledge. 
The teacher also utilizes peer critique for students to discuss each others work. She also talks about how her class is a lab, in which there is an important internet based element. She also says that keeping her website up to date is really important for struggling students or English Language Learners. 

Yamashita, Kathy. (2014). "Walls & Barriers: Using Art to Express Social Issues."

The Teaching Channel.  Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/art-and-express-social-issues.

Making education relevant

"You need to start education from things that make a difference to them in their settings....So you need education to be relevant and help people to make a living there and then, often. And you also need to make it intrinsically interesting.(Leadbeater, 2010)"

This quote is from a TED talk with Charles Leadbeater. He is discussing education within urban areas of rapid growth, mainly speaking to slums and in this case Favelas in Rio de Janeiro.  What I found in  the transcript of the TED talk that resonated with me was the irrelevance and uselessness of making students learn in a prescribed compulsory fashion. Students who walk into school all over the world often have far more to worry about than their homework. I know of students who have to finish chores before they can do their homework.  When they are finished it is dark outside and they don't have electricity. So homework never gets finished.  How can we restructure school to meet our students, rather than have them submit to our will?


Leadbeater, Charles. (Apr 2010). "Education Innovation in the Slums." TED Talk. http://www.ted.com/talks/charles_leadbeater_on_education/transcript. 

Financial Literacy

      According to USA today, students who are have to take a financial literacy class in high school are much more likely to be financially responsible in college. But only 17 states require this class in high school, which seems like a wasted opportunity.
       Financial literacy is amazingly important, so many of my peers and myself are in insane amounts of debt due to crazy student loans or reckless use of credit cards. I know many adults who don't even have a checking account, most living in poverty ridden rural areas. It is not that they are reckless with their money, they just have never been exposed to the idea of putting money in a bank and saving for the future. I know I grew up knowing that credit cards are dangerous and you only use them once in a while on larger purchases to be paid off. But many view it as free money. Financial literacy wouldn't only enhance the quality of many peoples' lives, but would also make certain academic subjects very real and relevant for students.

Malcolm, Hadley. (Apr 8, 2014). "Financial Literacy Education Has Lasting Impact." USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/04/08/financial-literacy-college-students/7296185/. 

Bad Baby

I recently listened to This American Life's most recent episode Bad Baby. It is all about children who use their "power" to make their families' lives hell.  On the top of the show a mother speaks about her eldest son who tried to kill his little brother. Her eldest son also is violent and aggressive with his mother. The other two children are not at all aggressive.  The eldest son often asks to cuddle, but his mother claims that it is difficult to do so when he is a danger to her safety. She has to force herself to be affectionate, because she knows it may help with his violent and aggressive behavior.

What stuck out to me was when the mother explains how she is often blames. She must have done something wrong. This reminds me on how as teachers we often times have deficit based thinking when coming to students but also when it comes to families. When I have entered schools where many students come from low socio-economic households, the teacher always says well they have no support at home. We blame families, and then we refuse the culpability.

What if as teachers we aimed see parents not as lacking? Instead, we see them as people who care about their children, which in my experience is often the case. Sadly, some parents don't care about their children but this is rare, and when this does happen as teachers need to act. When have deficit based thinking the children who do need our extra support will be taken as seriously as we need to.  Rather we see them in a see of poor unsupported children.

Maysoon Zayid

All the MAT's went to Wilma Rudolph Learning Center, a school that works with students with mainly severe and profound disabilities. So I have been thinking a lot about special education and how we even think about disability and ability in our culture.

I saw this on my Facebook I think it gives disability, pay attention to when she talks about a play that she was not cast in, in college.


http://www.upworthy.com/a-gorgeous-woman-shakes-her-body-on-stage-and-the-crowd-goes-wild?c=ufb1

Oke, Femi. "A Gorgeous Woman Shakes Her Body On Stage ... And The Crowd Goes Wild." Upworthy.http://www.upworthy.com/a-gorgeous-woman-shakes-her-body-on-stage-and-the-crowd-goes-wild?c=. 

Bahia Shehab

In the Arab Spring, many took to the street but Bahia Shehab took to the walls. She is a graffiti artist who used her work as a form of protest.

http://vimeo.com/89910610


 Wagner, Marc Christoph (March 24, 2014)Bahia Shehab: Art as a Tool for Change. Huffington Post. Retrieved http://www.huffingtonpost.com/louisiana-channel/bahia-shehab-art-as-a-too_b_5020603.html.

Higher Education Out Of Reach For Too Many

Jeb Bush and Hilary Clinton, two leading presidential candidates, both agree that higher education is too far out of reach for many Americans.  Bush claims that with technology higher education can be accessed by more Americans, Clinton also agreed. But she also voiced her opinion that it is incomparable to a classroom experience full of peers to share ideas.

I agree that higher education is financially impossible for most people in the United States. But I also think that college is not for everyone. I think we prioritize College in our culture when many students attend and flounder or attend sub par academic institutions that hand out credentials. There are many different type of intelligences and traditional higher ed is meant for one type.  I think we need to think about how to make higher ed reachable but also supply other quality alternatives like trade schools and apprenticeships.




Rucker, Philip (March 24, 2014). "Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush say higher education is out of reach for too many." Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/03/24/hillary-clinton-jeb-bush-say-higher-education-is-out-of-reach-for-too-many/. 

French Education and American Education

Today I was doing some sample grading with the professor I TA for and another TA.  The other TA is french and she started to describe the french baccalaureate system in high school.  Her description was pretty scary.  It seemed very intense. she had 12 subjects and had an exam on each of them. She then stated it was easy all you have to do is know what the professor wants and give it to them. I though this sounded horrible, but I did the same thing in my high school.  I think we rag on American education to much sometimes, like we are outstandingly bad when other systems seem to do the same thing but they just structure it a little differently.

Finnish Education

I read an article in The Atlantic online, "Finnish Education Chief: 'We Created a School System based on Equality.'"  What I learned from this article is that Finland has shorter school days, more recess time, very few private schools and less homework yet they consistently outperform the United States. When asked why the Chief of Education and Science was asked why she thinks that, she says they can't afford to waste a brain. Each child is held precious. They believe that Human Capital is just as important if not more important than natural resources. They see each child as equal. There are also no gifted classes, every child is put into the same class. But these classes are very small in size.

This article caught my attention because we have spoken about Finnish education in  nearly every class. How can they do it and we can't? There are a TON of factors. The difference of population size in each country, the make up of the population, the rate of poverty, etc. But the idea that each child is seen as a valuable asset to the future of the country is a mindset that more american educators need to internalize. Often times we aren't asset based thinkers in the classroom. All we see are students deficits, "They are bad listeners. He has ADHD. She can't behave correctly." Instead of boiling students down to what they can not do, we need to look at what they can do and build them up. We also as educators need to be very aware of how we treat students to try to insure that we are not treating students in a negative manner. This is where I think American education can learn from Finnish education.


Gross-Loh, Christine (March 17, 2014). "Finnish Education Chief: 'We Created a School System Based on Equality.'" The Atlantic.  
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/03/finnish-education-chief-we-created-a-school-system-based-on-equality/284427/

Telpochcalli

I just taught 3 sessions of the same lesson at Telpochcalli Elementary School. Nicole Marroquin wants us to do a reflection and I though this may be a good place to do it. Make some cross curricular connections.

I taught a lesson using Eric Carle's A Home for Hermit Crab. Our big idea was community/working collaboratively. They made collaborative collages/ paper sculptures. I didn't think the activity was super engaging. I looked online and found an amazing artist Michael Villequette. His work is mind blowing. He constructs these paper collages, paper sculptures, and mixed media works.

Simhasana, 2011 

Clownepillars Too, 2013

  But I don't think I really combined his aesthetic with what we were doing. If I were to do this lesson again I would definitely use elements of his work mainly ideas of symmetry and layering to build up volume.  To do this for the Kinders I would have had precut shapes at differing sizes that they could have readily used along with some of the folding techniques we used this time around. For the 2nd graders I would have really stressed ideas of symmetry and maybe had them make a sketch or just share ideas before we started. The collaboration element could have been better integrated as well. They got that we were working together, but they weren't readily communicating and working as a team.


What went well was engagement. All three groups were into it. They liked that they were using their hands and using a common material in new ways. I think they also liked that I didn't make them do anything, I told them to use the paper any way they liked but to be creative. And I got really creative results.

3rd Grade Shell

Kindergarten Shell

All in all, I had a great time. It makes me want to go back really badly. Also Telpochcalli is an amazing school that really cultivates creativity.

Standoff with California

So the US Department of education is allowing California to not report standardized testing scores or allowing these scores to affect students and teachers. This is from a long standoff which resulted in Arne Duncan threatening to withhold 3.5 billion dollars used to educate underserved and disabled children. This is all over standardized tests that aren't aligned to standards (common core) being taught in schools. What bothers me is the threat to withhold much needed funds that will benefit children. This seems the opposite of education to me. We need to rethink why we need these tests, especially when they aren't calibrated to what is mandated to be taught in class.

The article continues to talk about critics who say throwing out the test is depriving educators of data. I think that is silly, because teachers have data everyday their students are in class. This data is from observational notes, chapter tests, writing samples, reflections, projects etc. There is plenty of data a test administered once a year is far less reliable sample of students' ability.

I think they just shouldn't test the students at all this year. It also reminds me of what is currently going on in a handful of CPS schools. The test seems frivolous and useless, why are we making kids take it? To punish them? To make them follow directions without question?




Layton, Lindsay (Mar 7, 2014). In Standoff with California over Testing Education Department. The Washington Post. Blinks. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/in-standoff-with-california-over-testing-education-department-blinks/2014/03/07/08f7e1b8-a63e-11e3-9cff-b1406de784f0_story.html

Charter Schools Expel more students than District-Ran Schools

"The data reveal that during the last school year, 307 students were kicked out of charter schools, which have a total enrollment of about 50,000. In district-run schools, there were 182 kids expelled out of a student body of more than 353,000." (Ahmed-Ullah and Richards, 2014)



So I feel like we are always railing against charters. Charters are each very different and to say all are bad school and all are good schools is far too simplistic. But the idea that Charters can easily expel students is rather troubling. By having easy expulsion schools can choose to simply rid themselves of the problem, resulting in students pin-balling school to school. There is  no consistency for these children.  I also looked at the list of charter schools in Chicago, and most of them are Level 3 and Level 2, so they don't seem to be doing that much better.





Ahmed-Ullah, Noreen S and Alex Richards (2014, February 26). "Charter schools' expulsion rate vastly higher than rest of CPS: Disparity sure to become fuel in ongoing education debate." Chicago Tribune. ://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-02-26/news/ct-chicago-schools-discipline-met-20140226_1_andrew-broy-charter-schools-district-run-schools  

Harper High School

I recently was listening to a 2 part This American Life about Harper High School in Englewood. They set up at Harper for around 5 months. They interviewed students and teachers about the high school as well as the neighborhood. The radio show pretty much revolves around gun violence and gangs.  But more importantly it talks about the effects on the students and the teachers.  Harper was a turn around school, so they were getting funneled a lot of money for extra personnel and equipment. The funding went away this year (the radio show is about a year old). Many of the people who are there for students who live rather hard lives will be gone. There is an account of one member of the staff, whose position will be cut, who sees a kid out in the hallway. The student thrown out of class because he took two cookies and refused to put one back. He was just hungry because he wasn't able to go home and thus hadn't eaten. The staff member without any deliberation goes to the cafeteria gets some chocolate milk (they were out of regular) and the brings the student back to his office and gives him a bowl of cereal. This just kind of makes me think about the importance of people and relationships in schools, that education is more than scores.

Facebook Reveals Online Education in Rwanda

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/24/business/facebook-pitches-online-education-rwanda/

So Facebook announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that it was going to launch an online education initiative to give education to those without access. They are calling it SocialEDU. Students will gain access to universities such as Harvard, MIT, and Berkeley.  Nokia is jumping in on this and giving free data for a year those who are participating as well as a free smart phone. They seek to create an educational experience that is "affordable and social"(Chapple, 2014).

Okay, I don't know how I feel about this. I think this move to make education affordable is great. But I think it is a very big leap to impose American Higher Educational standards on Rwandans. And all of these big money corporations leaping on to this idea also makes me feel uneasy. What is their pay off? Also why aren't they launching this project in the US?

How to talk to kids

     So for Nicole's C&I class we listened to a This American Life episode on how to talk to kids and how not to talk to kids. It brings to mind how I was spoken to.  There is one part of the TAL, that is an essay a mother wrote about talking to her high school daughter about sex. The daughter approaches her mom about getting the pill and informs her she will be having sex with her boyfriend.
     This story sounds really uncomfortable to me. My mom and I never had that kind of conversation in high school, maybe because I didn't have a boyfriend till I was 20. My mom, I think trusted me but very much never spoke to me like I was her "friend". There are things they do not want to know. My parents definitely were my parents, they never spoke to me like I was a buddy. But they did treat me like a peer when we were discussing current events, academic topics, and ethical issues. My father and my mother have always spoken to me as if I was just as smart as they were. I remember when I was in 1st grade I was telling my dad the story of creation I had learned in Hebrew School. His response was,"Really Mollie? You believe that?" That comment let me know I didn't have to believe what adults told me.  He let me have doubt about what adults tell me.
   My parents also let us be a kids. They didn't intend to shelter us completely but they kept a lot of outside influences at bay. This allowed my sister and I to really be our age and not to worry about boys, clothes, and what the other girls were doing. I think they spoke respectfully to me and my sister as intellectual equals to them, but they also spoke to us as we were their children.
  They were also fallible, when one of them spoke to us in an inappropriate manner, they allowed my sister and I to call them out.  I remember once my Dad just went off on my moody crazy adolescent sister (she is far more normal now). She deserved a good talking to but not in that manner. I then went up to my dad and told him he was being and asshole and he needed to apologize to her. He responded, "You're right, I will."
    I appreciate the way my parents spoke to us. They never talked to us as if we were dumb but they also sought our advice and valued what we had to say, but they were most definitely our parents.

This is really cool and helpful

Some cool ideas for digital interactives in a museum setting. Not sure how some elements work for an art museum...

Gov. Cuomo Announces State Funding for College Education in Prison

New York state will fund college for prisoners.  The funds were taken away by Gov Pataki in 1995.  I think this is quite a turn to how we view the rights of prisoners as well as the nature of prisons. Prisons rather than being seen as pure punishment are being viewed more like rehabilitation. It also makes higher education seem not a privilege for the few but rather a right. Personally I think a lot has to be thought out about the prison-industrial complex and how we view higher education as well. But I think Gov. Cuomo is taking some good steps forward in acknowledging human rights.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-papa/gov-cuomo-announces-fundi_b_4799784.html

Forest Kindergarten

So I was reading an article about outdoors education and it mentioned Cedarsong Nature School in Washington State. They have the first Forest Kindergarten in the United States.  Students are outside every single day, rain or shine. They say that it allows for students to have a deep learning experience because there are plenty of opportunities for their engagement. It is an alternative (a very different alternative) from the classic classroom.

After reviewing the Cedarsong Nature School website, http://cedarsongnatureschool.org/, it reminds me that education can be a very exciting and engaging experience for children.  It reminds me of something that Michel Foucault said in an interview "Certainly, learning can be made an erotic, highly pleasurable activity. Now, that a teacher should be incapable of revealing this, that his job, should virtually consist of showing how unpleasant~ sad, dull and unerotic learning is-to me, this is an incredible achievement." (Foucault, 136)

This all brings to mind, how can we make education engaging, exciting, and meaningful?

Foucault, Michel (1996).  Foucault Live (Interviews, 1961-1984). New York: Semiotext(e). 

Daily Physical Education

So CPS will have daily Physical Education and comply with state laws that mandate daily PE. That is pretty awesome.  But they still do not have really any details on how it will be carried out. Since CPS is pretty financially strapped at the time they will slowly implement the plan over 3 years.

I believe in using the whole being in education, including the physical body and exercising gross motor skills not just fine motor skills. When I was teaching Kindergarten in AZ, I took advantage of any time that my students had to run around and to play. I saw that when they had this time to exert themselves it optimized my actual instructional time. They were more focused and we could get things done quicker, so I think this time for students to exercise will be beneficial for academics as well as for behavior.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-cps-physical-education-met-20140117,0,5775349.story

Found object pictures

So I was taking a break from doing some school work, and I stumbled upon this on pinterest:

http://www.boredpanda.com/pixel-art-from-found-objects-famous-paintings-plastic-classics-jane-perkins/ 

He recreates famous photos and paintings from found objects. It would be a really cool way to introduce outsider art with academic art.

Just thought it was cool and wanted to share.

Bill Nye vs Ken Ham

At the Creationist Museum in Northern Kentucky, close by to my hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, there was a debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham, a debate between Evolution and Creation.  The specific topic they were debating was if, "Is creation a viable model of origins in the today's modern scientific era?"

During the introductions I was surprised to hear that the creationist Ken Ham was actually trained in Biology and Education.  Also during Ham's intro  he claims that scientists can also be creationists, he claims that the term "science" has been hijacked by evolutionists/secularists.  He addresses ideas of "historical science" and "observational science".  He sees them as two separate entities.

When Nye begins his introduction, he begins with an anecdote about bow ties. He is incredibly charming, and personally pulls on my heart strings as I was a HUGE fan of his TV show when I was a kid. He talks about two opposing stories, Creation and Evolution, and comparing them, and then having the audience make their own call.  He addresses the debate topic as, "Is the creation model viable? Does it hold up?" Nye addresses Ham's distinction between historical science and observational science, that there can be no distinction.


In the second part of the debate, Ham claims that, "Creation is the only viable model of historical science in today's modern scientific era." He then presents interviews some creationists scientists, scientists who also also believe in creation. This is a weak claim to try to prove that creation is a viable option. He then speaks about how Christian scientists are persecuted.  This may all be true. I have no idea. But as someone who is not involved in science he is doing nothing to prove his point.

I had to stop watching after 30 minutes I was getting kind of annoyed. Ham's playing with the meaning of words was ridiculous and he seemed to talk around the actual topic.

I am not saying creationism is false and evolution is true. Personally I believe in evolution. I also am agnostic on days and an atheist on others, so I may be biased. But this whole discussion makes me think of a conversation we had in Karyn's thesis class and thinking about knowledge. Ham completely believes what he is saying, this is his set of beliefs that make up his knowledge. While Nye has his own set of beliefs that he believes is true, and this is his own knowledge. This makes me think that knowledge is intrinsically subjective.

http://gawker.com/the-highlights-from-bill-nyes-debate-with-creationist-1516466064

7 more Charters

I just read an article, all be it a bit outdated one from the end of January, about 7 more charter schools opening in Chicago. Chicago closed many low performing schools, and are then opening more charters to take their place. David Vitale says it is a "complex situation".  Personally, I do not hate charter schools. Some charters out perform traditional public schools. Some charters perform the same or under perform public schools.  I have many friends who work in charter schools, as this is what TFA alums are supposed to do after they finish the corps.

I hear the horror stories as well as the success stories.

What really bothers me is that it feels like the Board seems to not want to deal with the problem that Chicago Public Schools pose. Is it really appropriate to pass it off to private company have them run it for 5 years, then change the school again with another charter, or to permanently close it?
Schools are places where communities converge, is it really appropriate to have outsiders come in a restructure the whole operation?

http://www.suntimes.com/news/25100782-418/board-of-ed-approves-7-new-chicago-charter-schools.html

Off the Rez

I am watching a documentary about a high school basketball player, Shoni Schimmel. Shoni is a member of the Umatilla Tribe outside of Portland, Oregon. It documents her attempt to gain a basketball scholarship. She is rated 8th in the country after her Junior year. 

But Her family deals with financial hardships to keep Shoni and their family in Portland in order for her to go to a specific high school, which will allow her to be viewed by college scouts. Shoni finds it difficult to pick a college, as it will mean she will eventually have to leave her family. At the playoffs, Native Americans from allover the Northwest come and watch. They all want to see her succeed. They eventually are out after the first round of the quarterfinals. 

Shoni does ends up deciding on the University of Louisville. 

 

Within my own experience on the Navajo Nation, basketball is seen as an opportunity to get off the rez and to experience upward mobility.  But it is rare that they actually get the coveted scholarships.  

This film makes me think about opportunity and access. It brings up the same questions of opportunity that I had when I was working on the rez. 

Prezi About Me

I have made plenty of Prezis before, but with this particular project I was trying to explore the program.  Since the assignment feels a bit more open I felt more freedom to use some new capabilities, like the image effects, adding music, as well as adding video.

It is really difficult to figure out  what to include about myself. This is proving to be the most difficult part. I feel like it really hard to describe who I am, beyond the content of my resume. Luckily through Prezi I can utilize images, and as a person who works better through visuals, it is making the whole process make more sense to me.  It also forces me to open up to aspects of my personality only my closest friends know about, so its pretty scary.

Prezi also allows me to share with my peers aspects of who I am that maybe they were unaware. prezi may be a great way for students to visually express ideas and thoughts.  Within the classroom it may be a very valuable tool.