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Inspiration in the English Classroom

Module by: Karen Richardson. E-mail the author

Summary: Educational psychologists and theorists have posited that students differ not only in their learning styles but also in their realms of intelligence. Technological developments have facilitated educators in reaching students with different learning styles and intelligences. This paper investigates the use of Inspiration, a concept-mapping software, as a learning tool for all learners. My focus will ultimately be on the use of Inspiration in the English Classroom, but will provide insight into the software for all educators. I surmise Inspiration will be particularly helpful in an English classroom because the discipline typically relies on written text, caters to students with verbal-linguistic intelligence, and traditionally neglects technology. Inspiration helps learners bridge the gap between visual and textual literacy that is especially necessary in an English classroom, but important in any educational setting. I attempt to provide insight on the program generally, how to use Inspiration, examples of teacher- and student-created projects using Inspiration, pros and cons of using the software, and useful tips for teachers in hopes that Inspiration will be adapted for use in more English classrooms.

Introduction:

Inspiration is a visual learning tool that provides diagramming and outlining templates to help students and educators organize ideas. Inspiration software was created by Inspiration Software, Inc and can be purchased from their website www.inspiration.com for $69.00. According to the website, Inspiration is “the essential tool to visualize, think, organize, and learn.” This particular software is designed for grades 6-12; the company has a similar program called Kidspiration for younger grades. Students use Inspiration to plan and organize, research and evaluate, and comprehend and communicate. Additionally, educators use Inspiration to instruct, organize lessons, and assess student work. A free trial version of the software can be downloaded on the website. Finally, the website includes examples and lesson plans, videos, standard matches, and a help center for student and educator use. The software program additionally includes help and “Tips of the Day” for easy usage.

Inspiration allows users to create, manipulate, and transform graphic organizers on the computer (specifically in Outline mode or Diagram mode). The program’s use is only limited by the creativity of the user or educator and can be used in whole-class, small-group, partner, or individual instructional activities. Inspiration can be used to brainstorm main idea, character traits, parts of speech, parts of a sentence, narrative structure of a sentence, and many other concepts taught in English curricula. The concept-mapping feature is most helpful in organizing ideas and showing relationships in a visually engaging format. I believe Inspiration’s efficacy stems from its usability; Inspiration is technology that students can use to create and organize with minimal teacher assistance.

Inspiration Software also created a lesson plan book called The Thinking Classroom: Using Inspiration to Meet Curriculum Standards. This lesson plan book was created to support teachers in their use of the program within the framework of increasing standards in the public school classroom. The Thinking Classroom includes a summary of a specific cognitive strategy as applied with visual learning, examples of templates and diagrams created in Inspiration that students can use to apply to a wide range of topics, and sample lessons of the thinking skill applied in language arts, social studies, and science. The book can be purchased for $34.95 from The Academic Superstore (www.acedmicsuperstore.com).

Technical Assistance:

As mentioned, one of the most compelling features of the Inspiration software, is its usability. The program’s accessibility makes it a great tool for teachers and student. This section provides instructions for typical uses of Inspiration, as well as links to online tutorials and resources for advanced uses.

English classes rely on brainstorming when encountering texts for a first time or developing ideas for subjects of students’ creative poetry. Inspiration allows teachers and students to use technology to create organized, efficient, and aesthetic outlines.

To use Inspiration as a brainstorming tool follow these instructions:

  • Open Inspiration.
  • Read and close the 'Tip of the Day.'
  • Start typing - you do not need to click the mouse - this will be your MAIN IDEA or TOPIC.
  • Click the RAPID FIRE button on the toolbar at the top of the screen.
  • Type a word or phrase related to the topic, then press ENTER. Each word or phrase will be linked to the main topic (created as a separate idea bubble connected to the original.)
  • Repeat as many times as necessary.
  • When finished, either hold down SHIFT and press RETURN, or 'click away' from the diagram (in unused white space.)

After a user has created a web of ideas as shown above, clicking the “Outline” mode button in the upper left hand screen will transform the web into an organized outline. Please imagine how happy students will be when they simply have to click on “Outline” button instead of tirelessly writing an outline that does little in furthering their critical thinking skills. This switch from Outline mode to Diagram mode (the web of ideas) can be made at any point, with any changes created in either mode reflecting on the information presented in the other mode.  

But, if after changing the web into Outline mode the user wants to reorganize any ideas, follow these instructions:

  • Click and hold down the mouse button ON THE NUMBER OR LETTER of an idea you want to move. (Clicking on the text of the idea itself will let you edit, but not move the idea.)
  • Drag the number or letter of the idea to the desired location. This can be at the same organizational level as other ideas (Roman numeral C, D, etc) or at a subtopic level (little 1, 2, etc under a letter.)
  • Instead of clicking and dragging to create subtopics, the RIGHT and LEFT arrows on the top toolbar can be used to indent and change the indentation of ideas.

  Advance users may also experiment with color-coding the bubbles for further organization. In the Diagram mode the instructions to change the color of idea bubbles are as follows: 

  • Click once on one of the idea bubbles you want to change.
  • Hold down the shift key and select others you want to change to the same color.
  • After selecting all desired ideas, release the shift key.
  • At the bottom of the screen on the toolbar, click the fill color icon (to the left of the font color button) and change the bubble color as desired.
  • Remember and remind students using Inspiration to use contrasting colors (dark font color / light background, or light font color / dark background.)

The instructions provided here illustrate the usability of Inspiration. In addition to creating new Diagrams and Outlines, the software also includes design templates that teachers and students may find useful for projects. Each template is a document including different parts of an assignment that can be tailored by the teacher or student. Users also have the option of creating new templates (to be saved and used for future projects) if none of the templates original to the product are appropriate. The templates are particularly helpful in a classroom setting because they give students a starting point for projects and thereby minimize time allotment by providing students with a working framework.

To access the template files included in the software product, click on the FILE menu and scroll to the specific content area. These templates can be modified for a specific lesson plan.  

NOTE: The above step-by-step instructions were adapted from those found on http://www.wtvi.com/teks/02_03_articles/inspiration.html

Provided are links regarding further use of Inspiration software:

How to Use Inspiration Software to Map:

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/inspiration.htm

Video Tutorials:

*These tutorials (a series of three) specifically address using the software in an elementary school but includes ideas and instructions broad enough to apply to any classroom setting.

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=eed4b02d0f13cfc5d1da,

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9c2a0ed55efce297bd1e,

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9c2a0ed55efce297bd1e

The Inspiration website (www.inspiration.com) provides a video orientation that acquaints a user with the software program and instructs basic usage.

http://www.inspiration.com/Videos/Inspiration

These last two links are lesson plans that extend beyond basic usage of the program to apply it to English curricula. The first can be used by teachers in grades 6-8 to teach expository writing. The second can be used by teachers in grades 9-12 to teach persuasive writing.

Lesson Plan how to for Grades 6-8: Expository Writing:

http://www.inspiration.com/LessonPlan/Expository

Lesson plan How-To for Grades 9-12: Persuasive Writing:

http://www.inspiration.com/LessonPlan/PersuadeMe

Classroom Examples:

The University of Wisconsin developed a list of 50 ideas for using Inspiration in the classroom. While this comprehensive list neglects to provide a specific example within a classroom complex, the comprehensive list of ideas is useful as a framework for any classroom application.

http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/conceptmap/50uses.html

Along with the idea list, the University of Wisconsin also provides a grading rubric for diagrams created on Inspiration. This rubric ranks projects as “exemplary, proficient, and developing” along six different categories including content, text, graphics, and design.

http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/inspirationrubric.html

Most examples found online of Inspiration use in the classroom are teacher-created. These examples depict how teachers use the concept map feature of Inspiration to visually present new information to students. The following graphic organizers can be used in English classrooms and were created by Language Arts teachers:

Parts of Speech, created by Tamara Urberg:

http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/images/inspiration08/TUrberg_speech.gif

Characteristics of Writing, created by Brenda Huff:

http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/images/traits.gif

Both of these examples utilize the mapping functions of Inspiration in an effective graphic organizer; both additionally provide information on integral curricula of a secondary English course. Teachers can adjust these templates to provide more or less information for their particular English classroom.

Inspiration Software, Inc awards scholarships to educators who effectively use the program in their classroom. Kenneth Shelton, an 8th grade Language Arts teacher at Walter Reed Middle School in Studio City, CA was awarded a scholarship for using Inspiration to teach his students the critical elements of story development. His students used Inspiration to create a “Choose your ending” story web that allows the reader to take different paths and come to alternate endings. An example of a student’s chart:

http://inspiredlearningcommunity.com/node/387

This example differs from the past teacher-created examples in that its purpose is to inform students of an assignment (rather than present new information). This educator used the concept mapping to create a guided essay plan on Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream Act V for grade 11. The map illustrates the desired links between an essay’s introduction and conclusion; it also includes supportive quotations, questions to prompt topic sentences, and room for explanation. An essay template such as this can scaffold student writing; as students progress in their writing a teacher would include less information so that students learn to develop their own textual support and essay arguments.

http://www.inspiredlearningcommunity.com/node/546

Affordances and Constraints:

Affordances:

  • Education World (www.educationworld.com) asked five teachers to review Inspiration after using the software for one month in actual classroom settings. The reviewers rated the software “awesome” on installation, usefulness, and support. The program scored a bit lower, “above average,” on usability and performance.
  • Inspiration is great software for students to use for organizing thoughts and diagramming. It helps students with the preliminary stage of thinking. Additionally, the software is easy to use and students may quickly become “experts.” Because the software is easy to us, students may experience the technology actively. Continually, the visual aspect of the program allows students to learn more than simply written or auditory instruction. The process of making an outline or concept map succeeds in two ways: by teaching the content at hand, and by teaching students how to organize information and think critically.
  • Inspiration also affords teachers greater freedom and efficacy in the classroom. Teachers will appreciate how easily the software allows for differentiated instruction. Inspiration projects can be created with varying depth and specificity according to student ability. The technology use additionally facilitates better time management. It is and more effective and time efficient for students and teachers to use this software to create outlines and maps than would be on paper. Finally, teachers can use Inspiration to create intricacies and show relationships that would be very difficult without technology when teaching students new information.
  • On a school district level, Inspiration is a useful tool because it applies to all grade levels and all content levels. Rather than purchasing a highly specific learning tool, a school district may purchase Inspiration with the knowledge that it can be applied across subject and grade level boundaries in any classroom.

Constraints:

  • The biggest constraint in using Inspiration software is the programs cost. Though schools and educators receive a discount, the software does require purchase. First, this means not all school districts are in the position to absorb such an expense. Furthermore, the requirement of the software limits use to in-class time. Teachers cannot assign homework on Inspiration, assuming not all students have access, and therefore the software must be strictly used in a school setting.
  • The program’s usability also comes at the price of its limited use. Because it is a concept-mapping program, Inspiration is limited to outlines and other preliminary project work. Thus, its use in the classroom might be assumed to be small and only used for brainstorming; though this is a conceivable limit, creative teachers may find many other ways to use the software as illustrated with the example projects.
  • Finally, teachers and students may be constrained by the time and energy it takes to fully use a new technology program. Inspiration is a relatively new software and likely unfamiliar to most students. Therefore a teacher must likely spend time acquainting students and herself or himself with the software before using it. Furthermore, the template database on the program is limited such that students would need to purchase more templates, find other templates through online research, or take the time to create new templates.

Tips for Teachers:

1. Know your learning objectives and goals before deciding to use technology.

Though it is a great resource, Inspiration will not fit every unit and every lesson. It is important to decide what you want your students to learn before assuming the use of Inspiration, or any other instructional tool for that matter.

2. Give students specific directions and time allotments for any projects created using Inspiration.

The software capabilities allow projects to require hours of time to create exquisitely detailed outlines and diagrams, or to require only minutes to create outlines and diagrams that are simple and basic. Teachers must give highly specific directions, and make students aware of time allotments, so that students know what details to include, and what software “bells and whistles” unnecessary.

3. Instruct students how to export a file into a non-Inspiration program like Microsoft PowerPoint or Word.

To do this, click on FILE, scroll to SAVE AS, and change the format to rich text format (rtf). Once saved in rich text format, the outline or diagram can be opened in another program. When opening the file in PowerPoint, each sub-topic creates a separate side with the supporting sub-points.

4. When assessing student work, evaluate the process as well as the product.

More involved projects that require multiple drafts, outside research, and the intricacies of Inspiration deserve formative assessment such that students are credited for the process of their creation. Of course, the final product should also be assessed, possibly by a rubric like that linked above in the “Classroom Examples” section.

5. Do not overuse Inspiration.

While using the software utilizes technology, makes learning “cool,” and seems time-efficient, overuse may lead to negative student attitudes and decreased student effort. As with every other instructional strategies, Inspiration should be balanced with other tools as appropriate for a lesson.

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