Using Inspiration to Inspire Teaching and Learning

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Using Inspiration to Inspire Teaching and Learning

• Presented by Jenni McKeering and Denise Tarlinton
• Quality Teaching Conference
• Kurwongbah State School
• 13 August 2003

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Workshop Outline

• Introduction to Inspiration
• Lets Go! Hands on!
• Why Visual Learning?
• Planning with Inspiration
• Inspiration in the classroom
• Using Templates
• Create your own web!

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Using Inspiration

• Provides the tools to allow users to create a
  picture of their own ideas or concepts in the
  form of a diagram
• Useful software to use in a thinking skills
  context
• Can be used for
• Developing ideas
• Brainstorming
• Webbing
• Organising thinking
• Creating Graphic Organisers
• Diagramming
• Planning
• Critical thinking
• Concept mapping
• Organising
• Outlining
• www.inspiration.com

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Inspirations Two Views

• Inspiration has two main views or environments
• Diagram View- create visual diagrams such as
  concept maps, idea maps, webs, storyboards
• Outline View- organise written documents,
  speeches, reports or plans by providing a
  framework for ideas, order the flow of the
  information and structure paragraph detail and
  contents

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Lets Go!

• Create a web about FOOD
• Open Inspiration 6 from the start menu
• Set up the look of your web using Diagram
  Properties (file)
• Add main idea and headings
• Use Rapid Fire (lightning bolt on tool bar or F9)
• Change layout- mouse click and drag
• Add symbols (symbol library)
• Colour code (effects, fill colour)

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Rapid Fire

• Rapid Fire is one of the many Inspiration tools
  you can use to create a web or organise thinking.
• Place concept, idea or problem (main idea) in the
  centre of the page
• Click rapid fire (F9) and type word or phrases-
  press enter after each word or phrase
• These are webbed around the topic

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Benefits of Rapid Fire

• Quick and easy
• Suitable for Preschool to Adult
• Can be used across all KLAs
• Used at beginning of a unit (K- what do you know?
  Prior learning) and at end (L-what did you
  learn?)
• Can be used for assessment

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• Research in both educational theory and cognitive
  psychology tells us that visual learning is among
  the very best methods for teaching students of
  all ages how to think, and how to learn.
• http//www.inspiration.com/vlearning/index.cfm

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Why visual learning?

• Visual learning techniques - graphical ways of
  working with ideas and presenting information -
  teach students to clarify their thinking, and to
  process, organize and prioritize new information.
  Visual diagrams reveal patterns,
  interrelationships and interdependencies. They
  also stimulate creative thinking.

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Visual learning techniques help students

• Clarify thinking. Students see how ideas are
  connected and realize how information can be
  grouped or organized. With visual learning, new
  concepts are more thoroughly and easily
  understood. Reinforce understanding. Students
  recreate, in their own words, what they've
  learned. This helps them absorb and internalize
  new information, giving them ownership of their
  ideas. Integrate new knowledge. Diagrams
  updated throughout a lesson prompt students to
  build upon prior knowledge and internalize new
  information. By reviewing diagrams created
  previously, students see how facts and ideas fit
  together. Identify misconceptions. Just as a
  concept map or web shows what students know,
  misdirected links or wrong connections reveal
  what they don't understand.
• http//www.inspiration.com/vlearning/index.cfm

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When you work with visual representations of
ideas

• Easily see how one idea relates to another
• Learning and thinking become active
• Find gaps in knowledge
• Recall the details better
• Clarifies thinking

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Planning with Inspiration

• Inspiration makes planning easy and productive,
  with a visual approach to brainstorming and
  organizing for teachers.
• Inspiration can be used to plan lessons, units,
  projects, and class activities. The Template
  Wizard gives teachers step-by-step help to create
  customized visual learning activities to support
  any curriculum area.

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Inspiration in the classroom

• Students learn to
• Brainstorm
• Clarify thinking
• Expand their thinking
• Generate new ideas
• Break concepts and ideas down
• Develop their thoughts visually
• Plan
• Gather ideas
• Organize thinking and research

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Students can use Inspiration for

• Pre-writing tasks
• Story composition
• Story analysis (story maps)
• Character analysis
• Research
• Comparisons (Venn Diagram)
• Concept map
• Goal setting
• KWL
• All KLAs

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Students using Inspiration

• Students use Inspiration to gather and organise
  information from the Internet
• Dinosaurs http//www.kurwongbss.eq.edu.au/themes/d
  ino_activities/dino_activities.htm
• Sports
• http//www.kurwongbss.eq.edu.au/themes/sportfacts
  /index.htm

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Using Templates

• Some of the work is done for you, there are many
  templates (file-templates) available for use
• Literary web (Little Red Riding Hood)
• Science- life cycles
• Lesson plans
• KWHL
• Teacher progress report
• Thinking bridge map
• Thinking circle map
• Goal setting
• Concept map
• Tree diagram
• Venn Diagram

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Now its your turn

• You may like to
• Plan a unit
• Plan a lesson
• Design a worksheet
• Use a template
• Create a concept map
• Brainstorm with a partner
• Visit the Inspiration site for more ideas at
  www.inspiration.com

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Inspired sites

• http//www.leesummit.k12.mo.us/ITS/kidspiration.h
  tmhttp//www.leesummit.k12.mo.us/ITS/inspiration.
  htm Explore these Kidspiration and Inspiration
  pages created by Lee's Summit R-7 School District
  in Missouri. Each page contains a list of links
  to other great sites where you'll find examples
  and templates, tutorials, and other resources for
  Kidspiration and Inspiration. http//www.mcps.k1
  2.md.us/curriculum/littlekids/downloads/kidspirati
  on/index.htmlThis web site created by the
  Montgomery County School District in Maryland,
  contains downloadable Kidspiration templates,
  many developed to meet specific Maryland
  education standards for reading and writing.
  Check out the fun sounds included in the
  Kidspiration example, Animal Sound Sort!
  http//www.aea13.k12.ia.us/technology/Kidspirati
  on.htmBrowse through Kidspiration examples and
  templates in HTML format created by elementary
  teachers in Griswold School District, Iowa.
  Diagram topics include science, social studies,
  reading and writing, and more! http//www.uni.ed
  u/profdev/conceptmap/50uses.htmlYou're sure to
  find an idea to spark your imagination on this
  list of 50 uses for Inspiration and Kidspiration
  published by the University of Northern Iowa's
  online Professional Development department.
  http//www.edina.k12.mn.us/cornelia/classes/medi
  a/its/kidspiration.htmDownload Kidspiration
  examples for kindergarten through fifth grade
  students, plus extra vocabulary activities
  appropriate for all ages on this web site
  published by Erin Hansen, Instructional
  Technology Specialist at Cornelia Elementary
  School in Minnesota.

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• A picture is worth a thousand words.