10 Ways to Use Inspiration

Ever wonder what good Inspiration can do for the classroom?? Here's 10 different ways it can aid with teaching with technology!! :)

1. Make a timeline to make sense of history. Use pictures and info to make it detailed.

2. It helps to organize a student’s thoughts in a way that can be easily shared with other people. It would be good for presentations and group work.

3. It’s a good way to teach technology because you can use hyperlinks and other technologically savvy things. For a science class, for example, instead of just writing down notes of the lesson on the board, the teacher could use the web design to discuss the topic. For instance if a teacher was lecturing on cells, using the program, cells could be in main web box. An animal cell box could expand out. While a plant cell box could expand as well. Included in these notes could be links to videos on cells or other links to help connect the lesson in different ways.

4. Could replace a test in any subject because students can set up a diagram that would show their own understanding of a book or concept. It would be really good for English. As teachers we can use the Inspiration Program when teaching in many subjects. For instance the program can be used to teach in the subject Language Arts, teaching the students how to write a Persuasive Essay. As a class the teacher and students can come up with ideas for topics that can be used for the essays. In a diagram web format; the main web could be titled Persuasive Essay Ideas. The outer webs would be the different topic ideas for the essay.

5. Caters to different types of learning styles. Students can visually make connections, there's enough structure for those who need outlines, and it gives the presenter more of a chance to speak because you can't get too detailed.

6. Encourages students to improve in their presentation capabilities (they have to stand in front of the classroom, learn to gain confidence, practice with using a visual aid in a presentation)

7. Teaches students how to simplify thoughts and become more concise.

8. Organizes your resources (if you were presenting a project with a lot of external resources/links, then you can easily access them and organize them with the web layout) 

9. Be wary of over simplifying subject matter with Inspiration (because it doesn't allow for as much content, it could be easy for a student to skim over something and not understand it on a level they may need to)

10.While the teacher is instructing using this program the students could be taking notes using the program as well. They could use different graphic formats and create the notes in a way that they can best understand the material.