Software Assignment

Software Resource Assignment Christine Vassos Concordia University Chicago EDUC 1070 March 9, 2014

Software Assignment

Planning to teach third grade Language Arts it is important to incorporate technology as a tool into the lessons so students will want to learn and continue to stay engaged. Teaching a unit on how to write narratives and the lesson of including characters and their traits into the students writing can be difficult and overwhelming for some students, so technology can help guide students to organize their thoughts. A software resource that could support the writing narratives lesson is the software called Inspiration. Inspiration is a visual learning tool that provides diagramming and outlining templates to help students and educators organize ideas (Richardson 2008). Inspiration is designed for grades 6-12, but the company has a similar program called Kidspiration designed for younger grades, which would be perfect for third grade Language Arts. According to the website, Inspiration is the essential tool to visualize, think, organize, and learn (Richardson 2008). Students can use Kidspiration Lite on their I-Pad for free or purchase the full version of Kidspiration for $9.99. Using Kidspiration is an easy and hands on way for students to organize and comprehend their information in a graphic organizer by brainstorming the characters traits before the students start writing their narratives. The positives of using Kidspiration in a Language Arts lesson is it gives the students a productive way to organize their thoughts by mapping them out in a graphic organizer. The software already has a concept map created on character traits so students can use one created or create a new one to sort out their thoughts. Also, Kidspiration is useful software that teachers can use to instruct and assess their student work so they know the students are ready to begin their narrative essays. Another positive is this software is visually engaging and can be used in wholeclass, small group, partner, or individual instructional activities (Richardson 2008). Visual learning strategies such as graphic organizers, diagrams, outlines and more are being used in classrooms across the country (Inspiration Software, INC). The negative associated with this

Software Assignment

software is limited by the creativity of the user or educator (Richardson 2008). Also, the students need to be willing to take the time to organize their ideas using Kidspiration before they start to write and need to take the process seriously or else the software with not benefit the students. Overall, teachers need to choose software that is going to be compatible with their subjects and lessons. Using Kidspiration is age appropriate for third graders and using it to support units and lessons in Language Arts, especially writing narratives. Kidspiration is very helpful to allow students to express their ideas and for teachers to help review the students thinking process in an organized manner.

Software Assignment References Inspiration Software, INC. n.d. What is visual thinking and visual learning? Retrieved from http://www.inspiration.com/visual-learning Richardson, K. (2008, October 19). Inspiration in the English Classroom. Retrieved from the Connexions Web site: http://cnx.org/content/m18049/1.1/