Inspiration Software Honors 25 Educators With Scholarships for Best Projects Using Visual Learning

Texas Teacher Kathie Thuillez Earns “Best Overall Visual Learning Project” Award

PORTLAND, OR — Feb. 25, 2008
Inspiration Software® today announced the 25 talented educators who will receive the 2007-2008 Inspired Teacher Scholarships for Visual Learning. The scholarships recognise educators' "Best Projects" using Inspiration Software's visual learning software tools. The top honour for "Best Overall Visual Learning Project" scholarship award goes to Kathie Thuillez, a sixth grade social studies teacher at Fort Settlement Middle School in Sugar Land, Texas.
 

All 25 recipients will receive $1,000 USD to support professional development or new technology for their classrooms in recognition of their creative use of visual learning to help their students think and learn. In addition, Thuillez will receive a bonus of $500 USD for classroom technology and a $500 USD personal award for her exceptionally innovative and creative use of Inspiration.

"We launched this expanded version of our annual scholarship program in commemoration of Inspiration Software's 25th anniversary," said Mona Westhaver, president and co-founder. "We are proud to celebrate our anniversary by honoring these 25 incredible educators who recognise the power of visual learning and use it in innovative ways with their students."

Faced with the challenge of teaching sixth-graders the ins and outs of economics, Thuillez used Inspiration® for the unit's culminating project. Her students created diagrams to demonstrate their learning and summarise major economic factors of production, types of industries and economies. Taking advantage of Inspiration’s hyperlinking capabilities, the students’ webs linked to information about events affecting current economic conditions as well as definitions and examples of terms. With visual learning, Thuillez's students were able to delve deeply into understanding the complexities of economics, using their projects as study guides for the unit test.
 

The 24 other talented teachers who received Inspired Teacher Scholarships and short descriptions of their "Best Projects" follow:

• Heidi Bradford's sixth-graders at Horace Mann Elementary in Ottumwa, Iowa, became crime scene investigators by using InspireData^® to understand forensics, simulate a crime scene and understand the purpose of forensic science. With her scholarship, Bradford will purchase a document camera for her classroom and InspireData for her school's computer lab.
• Art teacher Cathy Bullington helped her eighth grade students at Bedford Middle School in Bedford, Ind., see the connection between art and science by using InspireData and Inspiration to teach the Japanese art of Shibori (stitched resist dyeing). Using the visual learning software tools, they explored the technical aspects of dyeing cloth and learned how to reproduce colour matches, create special technical effects and control their results. Her scholarship will support the purchase of a laptop and video camera for her students to use to create how-to art videos.
• As part of a school initiative promoting character education, first and second grade students in Dawn Capobianco's classroom at the Robinson School in Westford, Mass., used Kidspiration® to learn about character traits and create their own personal character trait webs. Capobianco will use her scholarship to purchase a computer projector for her school.
• Lisa Caswell, Perrysburg Junior High School, Perrysburg, Ohio, had her sixth grade students take a stand against bullying by using Inspiration to create visual aides that identify signs of bullying and solutions to the problem. While developing a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding bullying and strategies for dealing with it, her students built writing, research and collaboration skills. Caswell plans to use her scholarship to purchase classroom technology to use with her students, including a digital camcorder to capture video to incorporate into Inspiration assignments.
• As a professor of education at Hope College in Holland, Mich., Susan Cherup not only trains future teachers to use visual learning technologies and processes with their students, but she also has her students develop familiarity with the software by creating concept maps to understand recent education legislation. Cherup will use her scholarship to send a professor to the 2008 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio, Texas.
• Robyn Chrast, seventh and eighth grade language arts teacher at Sandburg Middle School in Golden Valley, Minn., began a multicultural literature unit by having her students use Inspiration to gather research and present information about a foreign culture and what makes it unique. Chrast will purchase an interactive wireless pad for her classroom with the scholarship funds.
• Sixth grade science teacher Richard Comeau at William Diamond Middle School in Lexington, Mass., used InspireData while working at Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire on a summer fellowship to analyse, use and present data demonstrating how scientists could improve the observatory's solar-powered data transmitters. With his scholarship, Comeau will purchase a projector for his science classroom and develop a data analysis course for the Education Collaborative of Greater Boston.
• Amy Conlin, fifth grade teacher at Tamarac Elementary School in Tamarac, Fla., created a project in Kidspiration to help students develop environmental awareness by understanding cause-and-effect relationships and building vocabulary. Conlin will use her scholarship to purchase a document camera for the school.
• Second-graders in Amy Goodrich's class at Woodland Elementary School in Brooklyn Park, Minn., used Kidspiration to show off their writing skills as they developed "All About Me" projects, complete with personal photos and a recorded greeting in their own voice that they shared with their parents at parent-teacher conferences. Her scholarship funds will be used to support the purchase of a document camera and projector for the school.
• Fifth-graders in Dennis Grice's class at St. John's Lutheran School in Orange, Calif., used Inspiration to explore the cultures of Native American tribes and develop multimedia presentations to share with their classmates. His scholarship will support attendance at NECC.
• Craig Hyatt, health and fitness teacher at East Valley Central Middle School, Moxee, Wash., had his seventh grade students use Inspiration to set a course for a lifetime of good health by creating a wellness action plan. Hyatt plans to use his scholarship to purchase a color laser printer for his students to use to print their Inspiration projects.
• As technology teacher at Holland Patent Elementary School in Holland Patent, N.Y., Nedra Isenberg used Kidspiration across the curriculum with all grade levels at her school. With young students, she used the visual learning software to explore the elements of a simple story while her fifth-graders used Kidspiration to compare and contrast vertebrates and invertebrates as part of a science lesson. She plans to use her scholarship to attend NECC.
• Teacher Jennifer Lee Kelly at Central Elementary School in Calhoun, La., used Kidspiration to differentiate instruction for fifth grade students with dyslexia. Using Kidspiration, she created visual learning tools to help them comprehend and learn new vocabulary, increasing class participation, literacy skills and motivation to read. Kelly will use her scholarship to attend NECC.
• At Calvert High School in Prince Frederick, Md., Erin Kimbro used Inspiration to help her American Government students develop an understanding of the three branches of U.S. government. Including photographs of current governmental officials in their graphic organisers made government come to life for her 11th-graders. Kimbro plans to use the scholarship to expand the use of Inspiration to one of Calvert High School's computer labs and to classroom computers equipped with assistive technology.
• Tenth through 12th grade chemistry students in Donna Klayder's classroom at Alliance High School in Alliance, Ohio, used Inspiration to create a web showing the connections among vocabulary words from a unit on water and its aqueous systems and solutions. Klayder will use her scholarship to purchase a colour printer along with a variety of science materials for her classroom.
• Joy Lee, master teacher for South Cluster 2 in the Republic of Singapore, used Inspiration as part of an action research project to discover the effects of using visual learning strategies to help her students improve narrative writing. Lee will use her scholarship to attend an overseas conference and collaborate with other teachers to learn and share information about visual learning.
• Melinda Leitner teaches English as a Second Language (ESL) students at two elementary schools in Henrico County Public Schools, Glen Allen, Va. Her kindergarten through fifth grade students used Kidspiration to understand content and create diagrams to demonstrate their learning. With her scholarship, Leitner will attend a national ESL conference to collaborate, learn and share visual learning ideas other ESL teachers.
•  With the goal of helping students master state science and writing standards, Mijana Lockard, technology teacher, used Kidspiration with her first-graders at Lincoln Avenue Academy in Lakeland, Fla., to explore the climate and geography of the Arctic and develop an understanding of animal adaptations, scientific method and habitat characteristics. Lockard will use her scholarship to extend the use of Kidspiration to her entire computer lab and to purchase InspireData.
• Ninth grade students in Maryanne Porter's physical science classes at Academy Park High School in Sharon Hill, Pa., used Inspiration to develop thinking skills as they created diagrams and concept maps to review test material on "Test-Prep Tuesdays." With her scholarship funds, Porter will attend NECC and purchase technology for podcasting.
• Students in Margaret Rothblatt's fourth grade social studies class at Woods Road Elementary School in Hillsborough, N.J., celebrated their school's 40th anniversary by using Kidspiration to explore events in their school's lifetime that changed history. Rothblatt will use her scholarship to purchase a classroom response system.
• Eighth-graders in Caron Sharp's English classes at O. Henry Middle School in Austin, Texas, built their literary analysis skills by using Inspiration to create a character analysis web about one of the characters from S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders. Sharp plans to use her scholarship to attend NECC with Shelley May, the school's technology specialist who collaborated with her on this project.
• Teacher Kenneth Shelton's students at Walter Reed Middle School in Studio City, Calif., learned the critical elements of story development and built writing skills by using Inspiration to create a "Choose your ending" story web, a visual flow chart that allows the reader to take different paths and come to alternate endings. Shelton will use his scholarship funds to upgrade his school's licences to Inspiration 8 and InspireData 1.5, as well as to attend NECC.
• Second grade teacher Diane Stolz used Kidspiration to help her students at Colwich Elementary School in Colwich, Kan., become "Biome Experts." Each week during the school year, the students explored a different biome, using Kidspiration to organise their work and develop a tour guide's presentation for each, culminating in a field trip to the zoo where they will share their expertise. Stolz's scholarship will support the purchase of microphones, digital cameras and MP3 voice recorders to enhance students' development of Kidspiration projects.
• Susan Yerino, science lab teacher at Woodvale Elementary School in Lafayette, La., found that test scores and quality of work improved dramatically after she began using Kidspiration to help her fourth grade students understand food chains and complete their own barn owl food chains after dissecting an owl pellet. Yerino will use her scholarship to purchase an additional computer for her science lab.

About Inspiration Software, Inc.
Recognised as the leader in visual thinking and learning, Inspiration Software, Inc.'s award-winning software tools, Inspiration®, Kidspiration and InspireData^®, are based on proven visual learning methodologies that help pupils think, learn and achieve. With the powerful combination of visual learning and technology, pupils learn to clarify thoughts, organise and analyse information, integrate new knowledge and think critically. Founded 25 years ago by Donald Helfgott and Mona Westhaver, the company's visual learning software tools are used today by more than 25 million students and teachers worldwide.