Inspiration Templates

1. Language Arts
   
   1. Jane & Charlotte
      This example from Language Arts is a comparison diagram about Charlotte Bronte and her character Jane Eyre. Here we have Bronte Point out Bronte symbol and here is Jane Eyre Point out Jane Eyre symbol. In the middle subsymbols we've put the similarities; to each side are characteristics unique to each. Point out as you talk
      
      This compare & contrast diagram is actually one of the templates Inspiration 6 comes pre-loaded with. We will look at using templates in just a bit.
   2. Character Web: Stuart Little
      
      This is an example of a character web created in a younger classroom. It maps out the key characteristics of Stuart Little. We see that Stuart is Mouse-like Point out the Mouse-like symbol, he's very human Point out the Very Human symbol, and he is adventurous Point out the Adventurous Symbol. Using a character map, students can individually or as a group capture the key elements of a character.
      
2. Social Studies
   
   1. Webbing: United States Election Campaigns
      
      Our third example of visual learning techniques is webbing. Here we have a web about United States Election Campaigns, a timely web for this year! This example shows how a class or student used webbing to explore the various facets of a campaign, including the Four M's of an election and the two cycles of an election. Point out each as you say it.
      
      Again, you'll see some of the new symbols in Inspiration 6: There are animated symbols Point out the telephone and the pig, photographic images Point out the newspaper and TV, and high quality illustration symbols Point out the calendar and car.
      
      Webs can be as large and detailed as necessary, or as simple, depending on the grade level of your students and the level of the information you're working with. You can also use a web to show progress, perhaps starting with a simple web at the beginning of the project and then adding information as you discover it.
       
   2. French Revolution
      And here is another example from social studies. This graphical organizer is on the causes of the French Revolution.
       
3. Science:
   
   1. Forms of Water
      Here's an example from Science. Forms of Water shows a webbing use with a younger age group. Throughout a unit on rain forest animals, students use webbing and graphics to illustrate what they've learned.
       
   2. Concept mapping: Sound
      A concept map is a specific kind of graphical organizer. It tackles a difficult concept and links related concepts with words to describe their relationships, showing you how the concepts and ideas interrelate. Concept mapping helps students learn new information by having them integrate each new idea into their existing body of knowledge.
      
      We can read a concept map almost like a sentence: We see that "Sound can travel in Gases or Solids or Liquids such as water." Follow the flow of the symbols with the mouse as you read them. Check to see if you should Zoom before doing this section; some projection set ups will be too small to see the link text.
      
4. Planning
   
   1. Plants Web Site Design
      Finally, Inspiration is used for a whole variety of planning activities, including teacher planning and multimedia planning. This example shows how Inspiration can be used by students to plan out a web site before they create it. Each of the symbols represents one of the pages they'll create; the links show the paths of navigation throughout the site. You'll notice a new feature in Inspiration 6 - hyperlinking! A click on this symbol - Plant Life Cycle - would take us to www.conceptmapping.com where we could learn more about creating a concept map.

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