Thinkspiration™ The Inspiration® Software Blog

As many of you may already know, Inspiration® Software just released Inspiration® Maps™ on the iPad®, our visual thinking and outlining tool for brainstorming, note taking, and pre-writing. Inspiration Maps combines the intuitive touch interface of the iPad with our 20+ years of experience developing visual thinking and outlining tools that help students of all ages think, analyze, write and learn more effectively. So if you are an iPad user or find yourself having difficulty taking notes, generating topic ideas, organizing your thoughts and information, or structuring your writing, you may want to try Inspiration Maps on the iPad.

Regardless of the class, course or grade level, taking notes in written form is the strategy most commonly used by students for learning information in school. Post note-taking, reviewing what was taught often involves highlighting key points or rewriting notes to organize and help retain the information. These strategies work for some students, but for many they are not an effective note taking and review process.

I recently returned from BETT* where I had the opportunity to speak with many dedicated educators and administrators who are constantly looking for ways to teach all students and help them be successful in school, work and life. One discussion stood out in my mind and I would like to discuss that topic with you today. It was around learning styles.

Many of you already have access to Inspiration®, Webspiration Classroom and Kidspiration® in your schools and are interested in using visual thinking and learning tools to help your students achieve academic success. Research and experts, like the Institute for the Advancement of Research in Education at AEL, state that visual tools, such as graphic organizers and outlines, have significantly assisted students of all ages to achieve learning objectives and gain valuable skills and knowledge to apply both in school and daily life. However, the challenge often becomes integrating into classroom instruction these strategies and resources to facilitate student learning.

Inspiration Software®, Inc. has new professional development workshops available to help you apply these learning strategies and utilize the tools you already have in your classroom more effectively. These workshops combine learning more about visual learning techniques and how to apply them in the classroom to develop strong critical thinking and organizational skills.

Inspiration Software’s technology tools are based on proven visual methodologies that have helped students, grades K-12, brainstorm, think, learn, analyze and write. Our three new workshops, each led by an Inspiration Software certified trainer, are relevant to all K-12 educators.

“Maximizing Success with Visual Learning and Inspiration: Essential Comprehension, Organization and Communication Tools” Workshop

Focused around Inspiration 9, this workshop teaches effective learning and teaching methods that help students, grades 6-12, strongly succeed in Language Arts, Social Studies and Science courses or anywhere students read and write. With Inspiration, you can introduce your students to the power of brainstorming and critical thinking through graphic organizers, concept maps, mind maps, and outlines. Students will then be able to take their organized information and confidently communicate their new knowledge and concepts in a presentation, through Inspiration’s Presentation Manager.

Inspiration 9

To learn more about the “Maximizing Success with Visual Learning and Inspiration” workshop, click here.

“Tap the Power of Visual Learning with Webspiration Classroom: Analyzing, Outlining and Much More…” Workshop

By using our online tool, Webspiration Classroom service, participants in this workshop learn how to incorporate visual thinking throughout students’ assignments and work in the classroom, computer lab, and at home. When your students have Webspiration Classroom accounts the tool is always available to help facilitate students’ learning and assignments can be submitted to teachers when they are completed, eliminating lost assignments. Webspiration Classroom can also be used to support collaborative projects. This workshop not only covers visual thinking strategies, but also includes best practices in using Webspiration Classroom for student-teacher assignment work flow, and collaboration processes and communication.

Webspiration Classroom service

To learn more about  integrating visual learning with Webspiration Classroom, click here.

“Visual Thinking and Learning with Kidspiration 3: Engaging Students and Building Organizational, Reading, Writing and Math Skills” Workshop

In this workshop, educators will gain skills in helping their young students develop thinking, literacy and numeracy skills using the proven principles of visual learning and Kidspiration. In developing reading and writing skills, Kidspiration helps build students’ word recognition, vocabulary and comprehension using visual tools that combine pictures, text and spoken words. With the visual math tools, students build a strong mathematical foundation for reasoning and problem solving by using visual representations (color tiles, pattern blocks, base ten blocks, fraction tiles, and fraction boxes) to understand math concepts. This workshop helps K-5 teachers learn and apply visual thinking and Kidspiration across the curriculum to help improve students’ learning.

Kidspiration 3

For more information on how to engage your students and help them build organizational, reading, writing and math skills, click here.

All three professional development courses are each offered in one day-commitments, providing two three-hour sessions with a maximum of 25 participants. For more information, visit www.inspiration.com/professional-development or contact one  of our Sales Account Managers at (800) 877-4292.

How are you supporting your teachers in the classroom as they work to help students learn and achieve academically?

With the 2011-2012 school year launch of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), educators and administrators have been hard at work to make sure their curriculum meets the requirements. Designed to fully prepare students with skills for college and the workplace, the Common Core State Standards, provides a clear framework  of what a student should accomplish and learn before the end of each year. “The Common Core State Standards focus on core conceptual understandings and procedures starting in the early grades, enabling teachers to take the time needed to teach core concepts and procedures well—and to give students the opportunity to master them,” (Indiana Department of Education).

Commonly referenced in curriculum of all grades, concept learning is valuable and necessary in a student’s education and growth. However, no matter how often the teaching of concepts may be emphasized by the educator, concept-centered curriculum is often a challenge for students to learn.  A common challenge for teachers is that while students may retain principles and facts, understanding of concepts and how to apply that knowledge often goes overlooked.

According to Sydelle Seiger-Ehrenberg in “Developing Minds: A Research Book for Teaching Thinking”, a prevalent misconception is that concepts can be taught and learned the same way as facts. But in reality, concepts and facts require different approaches and different learning strategies. The problem is that facts and concepts often get lumped into the same category, making students unable to distinguish the differences between them. This results in students’ incomplete understanding of subjects and lessons.

We all know how important math is in a young learner’s education. We also know how difficult it can be to teach basic math skills; it’s such a complex subject and challenging to find new ways to ingrain the concepts and proper understanding in students. They often become consumed with finding the correct answer and miss the vital learning steps in building a solid foundation in the basics of math.

In my last blog post, “Common Core State Standards and Visual Learning: Part 1“, I focused on incorporating visual learning and thinking techniques in English Language Arts subjects to meet the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). I’d like to now discuss the value in using visual thinking and learning tools to achieve not only the Standards for Mathematics among early learners, but how these tools will help enforce basic math skills that will help them succeed in high school, college and the work force.