Inspiration

Inspiration and Kidspiration are two of my favorite tools for organizing content graphically. In fact, I used Inspiration to create some of the graphics for my dissertation! I like Inspiration for a number of reasons. First, it is very easy to use (which is always good if you're a busy teacher trying to use it with students!). Second, it allows me and my students to work visually or verbally, so it caters to different learning styles and also helps to differentiate instruction for students with special needs. Third, it has a lot of great export options so I can turn my graphic organizers into Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, graphics files, etc., thus making it easy to turn your planning document into a usable product. Fourth, it has numerous built-in templates on all kinds of topics, making it easy for me as a teacher to assign students to create a planning or concept document and ensuring a decent final product. I can also use Inspiration on my Interactive Whiteboard, allowing my class to collaborate on a document in real-time and save it for publication on our class website.

You can get free 30-day trial downloads of Inspiration and Kidspiration. You may even win a free copy!

Additionally, Inspiration has recently introduced an online, collaborative version of the software called Webspiration. This tool enables me and my students to work together to create a concept map. Hmm...I might have to try this out when I teach digital cameras on Thursday!

Here are some additional resources:

50 Uses for Inspiration and Kidspiration

Great compilation of ideas and links

Tutorial (PDF)

How could you use Inspiration with your students? I look forward to seeing your ideas under Comments!