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Special Education- Inspiration

Page history last edited by Megan Horsch 11 years, 10 months ago

Megan Horsch

What is it?

Inspiration is a software program that allows students and teachers to create visual representations to organize and outline ideas and concepts.

Example of a mind map created on Inspiration.

You can create webs, idea maps, graphic organizers, outlines, and presentations. It can be used as a teaching tool and a learning tool for students in the classroom. Inspiration helps students learn how to organize and connect their ideas in a variety of ways. The following video shows the many uses of Inspiration:

Inspiration in the Classroom

Inspiration can be a useful tool in any classroom. The idea behind inspiration is that visual learning, organizing ideas, and connecting concepts will enhance learning in the classroom. Teachers can use Inspiration to present students with organized notes, outlines, and presentations for lecturing. With available templates, teahers can provide clear, guided instruction to support student learning of a certain topic. Students can use Inspiration to create graphic organizers as study tools, brainstorming ideas for projects, or creating presentations. The tool uses color schemes, images, and symbols to help students show relationships between ideas. All of the possibilities call for critical and creative thinking.

The following links are to reviews of Inspiration to see how the software has benefited others in the classroom:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech124.shtml

http://www.superkids.com/aweb/pages/reviews/writing/1/inspirat/merge.shtml

http://www.macworld.com/article/1050835/inspiration8.html

Applications in the Special Education Classroom

Inspiration can be an especially useful tool in special education. This type of technology allows the teacher to express ideas and concepts in different ways. All students learn differently and have different needs. Inspirations is a program that will allow educators the ability to easily create a lesson plan that can be visual, linear, abstract, etc. in order to create a more productive learning experience based on a student's individual strengths and weaknesses.

Vocabulary Support

A students vocabulary is based on the sythesis of ideas and concepts. The articulation of conceptual connectivity and conceptual precision is vocabulary. It would be difficult to articulate an idea or concept that is not fully understood. Inspirations facilitates learning the connectivity of ideas and concepts through visual representations of connectivity. These representations are automatically conducive to a more refined vocabulary because the student has more knowledge of a new concept and new concepts contain new vocabulary.

Want to see an example?

Visualizing Vocabulary Lesson Plan

Writing Support:

Similar to vocabulary support, the increase of writing skills is based on the understanding of new ideas. When a student understands a new idea and the vocabulary that parallels that idea, they are better able to write information about the concept. So, it is an almost linear process: First the student must understand what the concept is and how it is related to other ideas, then they will automatically learn vocabulary related to that idea, and finally the student will be better able to articulate the learned concepts. Inspirations also allows the student to be assisted in the writing process. The inspirations program in many ways operates simialr to the process of writing. Many of the features in the inspirations program begin with a main idea and branch off to articulate connections and elaborations. This is how the writing process operates also. First we must have a main idea, then we can articulate sub ideas and how they are connected.

Here is an example of how Inspiration can support the writing process:

The Writing Process Made Easier Lesson Plan

Organizing Concepts:

This is probably the most obvious of all the topics. Inspirations is basically a program which organizes concepts. When a student can see the organization of concepts in a visual representation, the human brain is better able to understand them and use the concept again later. By creating a concept map, students can see how their ideas and concepts are connected. A concept map is also a useful tool for the instructor to create for the students so they can use it as a study tool.

Want to see a lesson using a concept map?

Concept Map Creation Lesson Plan

Visual Brainstorming:

I think creativity is based and inspired by what you already know. Brainstorming is an extention in to the unknown based on what is already known. We use what we already know as a launch pad into what is not known. When we have 3 concepts that we know, then we can brainstorm about how they are connected to eachother or other things. We can brainstorm about how these concepts can be utilized in different ways. Inspiration supports the brainstorming process, especially for students who have a difficult time coming up with ideas on their own. The program can enhance a student's creativity and open up new ideas.

Here is an example of a brainstorming lesson:

Brainstorming Lesson Plan

Projects:

One of the cool things about this program is that it allows students to convert their notes or outlines into different forms. They can actually use what they have already created and easily turn it into a powerpoint type presentation. Many students struggle representing what they know in a presentation form. The program makes projects and presentations easier by showing students that their notes can be changed into a new form. Inspiration is a great way to engage and make creativity possible when students are working on a project.

Want to see an example?

Creating Oral Presentations Lesson Plan