Becoming inspired by Inspiration

I just turned in my Inspiration project for class. Needless to say, it was a challenge. I really like how we delved into diagramming software to help us with planning in the classroom and creating new ways that help your students learn in the classroom. I like how Inspiration has several different programs, such as Kidspiration and the Beta version. I would say that Inspiration 9 is probably the best version to use. Kidspiration seems to be much more different and might not have all the same tools as Inspiration.

For my Inspiration Project, I did a character map and analysis of The Chronicles of Narnia. I did a type of doubles-Aslan and the White Witch and Edmund and Lucy. I focused on Aslan's relationship with the three characters. While working on my project, I appreciated the variety of tools found in Inspiration. For instance, I found tons of font sizes, as well as graphics and clip art. I also liked the different types of colors I was able to use. I found that I could use green, but I might use three different shades of green.

Unfortunately, I found some frustrations when working with Inspiration. When creating my project, I would have liked to create a document in outline form. However, when I tried to create an outline the topics and subtopics didn't appear in the levels that I wanted them to be at. I don't know if that was my own doing or if Inspiration was really being problematic. I also found that this project was quite tedious and time-consuming. Then again, I might have become a bit of a "perfectionist" in that the circles had to be perfectly aligned, I had to have just the right shade of colors. I don't know, that might have been just me. But still, if you want to do well on a project, you have to be willing to put in the time and effort. As a teacher, the quality of your work will reflect the amount of work you put into it.

For the classroom, I would use inspiration software for planning and review. For instance, if I were to assign my students a project, I would spend some time getting them comfortable with the program and then allow them to plan the topics and details of their projects. For review, I would use inspiration to remember facts, dates, events, or characters to help them study for a quiz or test. On the fun side, I could also use inspiration the way Ginny's example was set up, to plan for lunch. With my students, I could probably use inspiration for ideas about a party or where to go for a field trip. There are just so many uses for inspiration, and several different types of software that come with it. I would probably start off using Kidspiration in the beginning years of teaching since I'll be teaching younger grades. If and when I wanted to move up to some older grades, I would switch to Inspiration.

If I had to complete this project again, I would probably ask for more assistance. Technology seems simple enough to use, but sometimes it can be a pain and not work for us. Still, I'm excited to see the different upgrades that Inspiration will implement in the future when I use it again, in the classroom. Also, I would probably play around more with colors, more specifically, colors with text and background fill.