Three years ago I was ready to walk away from the teaching profession until my husband introduced me to VUE: Visual Understanding Environment from Tufts University.  I begain utilizing it in order to create a "map" of the classroom conversation and discussion, embedding information, images, and videos.  Students came alive with the ability to see how all these things were related to each other.  Still I became frustrated that all of this work was only being used by myself and a few close teachers.  A year later, someone suggested Prezi to me because he was aware of the way I taught.  This was the answer to my problems.  

Because I now had the ability to use it online, and others were able to easily access the work, the way in which I could construct and navigate the interface was expanded.  I have used it in multiple ways within the English Language Arts classroom.  Described below are a few of the different ways I utilize Prezi.

Contextual - Building context about a specific topic for students.  This is particularly useful for English Langague Learners, and students who have experienced limited exposure to cultural artifacts and information.  

Conceptual - Building a big idea or concept for students by creating question which leads or guides them to a new understanding.  This can be done with the juxtoposition of images, quotations, or questions and/or the actual construction of the Prezi itself which symbolically represents the idea.

Exploratory - Students are allowed the freedom to choose their own path while exploring this virtual environment.  Questions may help guide them, but they draw their own conclusions.

Linear - This follows a traditional linear model that is most like a Power Point.  While still following a 1-2-3 path, you as an educator, are able to go back to step one more easily, and students are able to see the path as a whole.

Of course, I have also used Prezi to take class notes and create agendas, but the ones described above are the kinds I use to guide my instruction, and because Prezi is published online, other educators are able to use bits and pieces of what my students and I have constructed over three years.