Inspiration fever heats up NHEEEP expo

Inspiration® fever is spreading fast here, fueled by the enthusiasm of Kyle Gannon's sixth grade language arts class. The students recently competed in the Student Technology Expo 2000 supported by Columbia University's North Hudson Electronic Education Empowerment Project (NHEEEP) where they won top honors for their age group by presenting story webs created with Inspiration.

Before this year, Mr. Gannon did semantic mapping with his students on a dry erase board. But the process was often cumbersome and frustrating. Students each had to read the same book and it was difficult to keep their attention. Even so, Mr. Gannon felt that mapping was necessary. "Writing is so important. You have to become a dominant writer to become a dominant student, but every teacher hears 'I don¹t know what to write' all the time. Mapping helps students get their ideas out so they can begin the writing process."

Today, mapping and writing is easier for Mr. Gannon's students. Now they are free to each pick their own books and then do their own maps using Inspiration. "This allows students to have some choice in what they are doing. It really helps them feel like the project is their own," says Mr. Gannon. "As they read their books, they are thinking about their maps. Oftentimes, they can tell me which symbols will be used for each topic before they sit down at a computer!"

After finishing their reading, the students set off to the computer lab. Here they begin to web out their stories using Inspiration. According to their teacher, "they like to type so getting them to put their ideas down is easy. And they love to use RapidFire� ... it's a chance to see how much they can get out as quickly as possible."

For most students, the first step in developing their maps is to search the Internet to find a photo of the book cover. After dragging and dropping this image into their diagram, it becomes their new main idea. Before using the Internet though, students discuss plagiarism. "We have to be very careful about plagiarism. Students don't even think about it until we talk about it. But I tell them that they must try to get permission for everything they bring into Inspiration from the Internet."

Then it's time to flesh out their work with research. Mr. Gannon sends his students on an Internet search to find out more about the story and its author. For each site they discover, the students place a hyperlink into their diagrams. "They love to hyperlink to web pages. To click on a link and actually have it open a page with information that pertains to their topic is great." After they have enough information on their books, students turn their diagrams into outlines and export them to a word processing program to begin their writing.

To compete in the NHEEEP expo, several of Mr. Gannon's students took their writing projects a step further. Mr. Gannon opened the computer lab before school for several days and students voluntarily (and excitedly) came in each morning to work on their diagrams. They learned how to change the colors of symbols, make different types of links and personalize their outlines by changing topic fonts and colors. They also expanded their web research and added hyperlinks to online author chats.

As his students' knowledge grew, so did their confidence. "Anytime there was a computer free, students were begging to use Inspiration. Many of them have now advanced beyond my capabilities with the program," says Mr. Gannon.

Finally, it was show time for the tech expo crew. Mr. Gannon loaded up the laptops, a monitor and seven of his most inspired students and off they went. As the students began showing their projects to a group of judges, the 'oohs' and 'aahs' they heard when they changed a diagram into an outline fueled their excitement.

Many of the other school districts at the expo were not familiar with Inspiration, but thanks to Mr. Gannon's students everyone knew about the program by the time the day was over. Throughout the show, his students displayed diagrams on Harry Potter, Julie of the Wolves and Treasure Island to teachers and students from about 30 other NHEEEP schools. Enthusiasm generated by the presentation caught the attention of a local television crew at the show, and the students got to present their projects on TV!

When the day ended, the group was awarded top honors for their age division and received a digital camera for their prize. According to their teacher, the students immediately saw an inspiring use for this new toy. "Now they can't wait to take pictures to include in their diagrams!"

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