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Inspiration Software at Greely Middle School
Inspiring Learners to Grow with Graphic Organizing
Software
Mark Phillips, a teacher on the Greely Middle School’s
Hope Island Team, was introduced to a powerful learning tool called Inspiration
Software by a colleague, and immediately realized that it would greatly expand
the value of the students’ laptop computers. He received a grant from Foundation
51 in 2004, and today, students and teachers alike use it to expand learning and
teaching in the middle school.
Inspiration Software is a graphic organizing program that uses text combined
with colors, symbols, and bubbles to create flow charts, hierarchal structures,
and other visual diagrams. Students learn how to create and use these diagrams
as part of their MSAD 51 curriculum to demonstrate cause and effect and to
outline writing projects. The Inspiration Software uses the same principles, but
brings them to life on the student laptops. Students can capture their ideas in
the software program, and can quickly and easily move them around. The program
allows students to change between diagram form and outline form with a click of
a button, making it easy to choose a format that works for each type of learner.
When the student has completed a set of ideas, and placed them in the
appropriate order, the software transforms these completed paragraphs into a
Microsoft Word document.
“It makes the writing process a lot less threatening,” says Phillips, who notes
that the versatility of the program accommodates a variety of learning styles.
“It helps kids do more than they think they can do.”
One of the most exciting areas for the software is within the special education
program. Teachers can use the software to help kids with reading and writing
disabilities. “They can make webs and outlines of their ideas without having to
face creating a huge piece of writing,” says Philips. “They can type notes into
a paragraph box, and it’s less threatening than facing a blank piece of paper.”
The program also enables text-to-speech, so students that have difficulties
reading or seeing a computer screen can configure the program to read the
relevant information out loud to the student.
In addition to making the writing process easier, Phillips has found a number of
uses for the program within the school, including using it to create
comprehensive lesson plans. In his 7th grade math class, he created an entire
unit using Inspiration, where he developed hyperlinks from his document to
relevant sites on the Internet, and within his computer. “I prepared a ratios
and proportions unit using Inspiration, where I lined up assignments, and walked
through the unit and opened up bubbles as I came to them,” says Philips. When he
needed to be out for a day, he emailed a language class an Inspiration diagram
that outlined that day’s assignment, with hyperlinks to appropriate web sites.
“They had a guide for the whole day in class,” says Phillips. “Even though I
wasn’t able to be there, they still had a good learning experience and they were
able to move forward.”
Other teachers in GMS report a wide variety of uses for the software, including
developing multi-paragraph essays and character studies, categorizing math
formulas, and diagramming sentences. After introducing the software, one teacher
reports that students have used it spontaneously for note taking and organizing
thoughts. Another teacher has observed students using Inspiration Software to
map out foreign language vocabulary and conjugations. And another teacher uses
the program to help students learn how to organize information and gather
research from web sites.
“I hoped that once the program was put on the kids’ laptops, their own
inquisitiveness would encourage them to experiment,” says Phillips. “The fact
that they’re using the program independently says a lot.”
In addition to expanding uses within the classroom, Phillips hopes that teachers
will continue share their work created in Inspiration Software. “We could share
webs, share our uses, and share our best ideas with each other,” says Philips.
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