Reflection- Prezi Standard 1a

NETS-T standard 1a reads, "Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers: a. promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness."
With the thought of having an "adopt an atom" lesson I created a sample Prezi to show my students what type of information I would expect from them when they present the atom that they 'adopted'. This was my first time working with Prezi and I immediately fell into a love hate relationship with it. I love that it is something new and fun to present with. I am amazed with Prezi's capabilities as far as design and structure. Although basic building is pretty easy to pick up on, I had a really hard time with a few aspects. Had I not looked at other Prezis I would have thought mine was pretty good, but once I realized all of the things you can do I felt rather inadequate. I tried to figure out how to do some of the fancier moves, but after a few hours of frustration I had to call it quits and chalk up my first Prezi as a learning experience.
 I had a hard time with sizing and with where frames appear when it is their 'turn'. A lot of mine were getting cut off on the right hand side no matter how small I made them, and I couldn't figure out how to combat the problem. Another issue I faced was that every time I wanted to view my Prezi I couldn't figure out how to go back to edit mode. So I would just re-enter the home site and reopen my presentation, and this process got very old very fast.
Even though I had a hard time, I am excited to try again. I am confident that with practice I will master Prezi.
I want to have my students use Prezi because it makes you think in a way that you are not familiar with. Presenting in a new way will make the students' creative juices flow while having fun. I also think that classmates are more likely to pay attention to a Prezi on an atom over a PowerPoint, because it will be unfamiliar territory and students will want to see how their classmates constructed their presentations.