Inspiration

AUGUST 2009

MICHELLE KRILL, [email protected]

VO C AB MAPPING SOFTWARE AND WEB TOOLS TO ENGAGE STUDENTS IN CONTEXTUAL LEARNING OF VOCABULARY.

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Brainstorm & Categorize for Meaning Inspiration ~ These tools are visual thinking & learning tools students rely on to plan, research and complete projects successfully. Students gain and retain a better understanding of concepts and demonstrate knowledge,

Wordle is a site for generating “word clouds” from provided text. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.

improving their performance across the curriculum.

Inspired Learning Online Community

http://inspiredlearningcommunity.com/

AutoMotivator is for making printable posters.You choose the picture, colors, and text, and they make your poster.

Kidspiration ~ In reading and writing, Kidspiration strengthens word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension and written expression. With new visual math tools, students build reasoning and problem solving skills.

WordSift is a tool that was created primarily for teachers. Think of it as a linguistic playground that is available to instantly capture and display the vocabulary structure of texts, and to help create an opportunity to talk about language. WordSift helps anyone easily sift through texts -- just cut and paste any text into WordSift and you can engage in a verbal quick-capture! HTTP://WORDSIFT.COM

HTTP://WORDLE.NET http://wigflip.com/automotivator/

Built-in Tools! BOTH SOFTWARE PRODUCTS HAVE MANY PRE-MADE TEMPLATES. OR, AS STUDENTS LEARN TO MAKE THEIR OWN, SAVE THEIR WORK AS TEMPLATES. Templates Templates are starting points for creating your own documents. A template can contain any type of content ~ from basic symbols and links to fully developed ideas and imported graphics and videos. Inspiration comes with more than 50 templates to help you create your own documents. In addition, you have access to even more templates online. When a user opens a template, they save it as a new document so the template itself remains unchanged. Create custom templates that contain any type of content--from simple diagrams to complex outlines. Teachers may create their own templates to use as a starting point for a special project or assignment. Word Guide

L EA RNIN G A NEW M EA NING FO R A KNOWN WORD THE STUDENT HAS THE WORD IN ORAL OR READING VOCABULARY, BUT IS LEARNING A NEW MEANING FOR IT. FOR EXAMPLE, THE STUDENT KNOWS WHAT A BRANCH IS, AND IS LEARNING IN SOCIAL STUDIES ABOUT BOTH BRANCHES OF RIVERS AND BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT.

LEA RNIN G THE M EA NING FO R A N EW WORD REP RESENTING A KNOW N CONCEPT

THE STUDENT IS FAMILIAR WITH THE CONCEPT BUT HE DOES NOT KNOW THE PARTICULAR WORD FOR THAT CONCEPT. FOR EXAMPLE, THE STUDENT HAS HAD A LOT OF EXPERIENCE WITH BASEBALLS AND GLOBES, BUT DOES NOT KNOW THAT THEY ARE EXAMPLES OF SPHERES.

LEARN ING THE MEA NIN G OF A N E W WOR D REPR ESENTING AN U NKNOWN CONCEP T

THE STUDENT IS NOT FAMILIAR WITH EITHER THE CONCEPT OR THE WORD THAT REPRESENTS THAT CONCEPT, AND MUST LEARN BOTH. FOR EXAMPLE, THE STUDENT MAY NOT BE FAMILIAR WITH EITHER THE PROCESS OR THE WORD PHOTOSYNTHESIS.

CLARIF YING AND ENRICHING TH E M EANI NG O F A KNOW N WORD

In Inspiration, use the Word Guide to look up definitions, synonyms, and antonyms and learn how to pronounce words.

THE STUDENT IS LEARNING FINER, MORE SUBTLE DISTINCTIONS, OR CONNOTATIONS, IN THE MEANING AND USAGE OF WORDS. AN EXAMPLE WOULD BE LEARNING THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RUNNING, JOGGING, TROTTING, DASHING, AND SPRINTING.

From Reading Rockets: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/c38/