|
REFLECTION
One thing that has been difficult for me as a writing teacher has been making sure to use graphic organizers
with my students. Why? Because until recently I have been more of an outline or list person...graphics didn't really help
me. However, I learned very quickly in my first year of teaching that I'm not the 'norm.' The majority of my students relied
very heavily on organizing their thoughts about what they were writing and what they were reading into graphic organizers.
I really wish I had been aware of software like Inspiration because I would have found an immediate use for it in my classroom.
Instead, I (who had never used a graphic organizer until year one of teaching) had to 'create' my own using Word. This ate
up quite a bit of my time and really was frustrating for me. What I appreciate about the Inspiration software is how easy
it is to learn how to use and that there are templates to use for examples. As a language arts teacher, I really value how
many approaches the templates take toward my subject area. Every single template that was listed was one I could envision
using in the classroom.
As much as I had fun playing with the program, I am sure students would as well. It would be
really fun to use this in class and let students create their own way of organizing thoughts. The link below will
take you to my first attempt at using Inspiration to map my "Road Through Life."
|
