Inspiration Software Honors 15 Educators From Around the World With Inspired Visual Learning Awards
Teachers, School Library Media Specialists Rewarded With Inspiration, Kidspiration and InspireData, New Classroom Technology and Professional Development Opportunities
PORTLAND, Ore. – March 31, 2009 – Inspiration Software®, Inc. today announced the 15 educators and their students from around the world who will receive Inspired Visual Learning Awards. The 2008-2009 awards program recognizes three Gold Star and 12 Silver Star winners for creatively using the company’s visual learning software tools, Inspiration®, Kidspiration® and InspireData®, in their classrooms. More than 220 entries from 11 countries competed in the inaugural year of this award program.
Top honors went to the three Gold Star winners: Jason Rushing, technology integration specialist, Humann Elementary School, Lincoln Public Schools, Lincoln, Neb; Kimberly Seder, media specialist, Cathedral School, Diocese of Raleigh, N.C.; and Cheryl Teaters, biology teacher, Gateway School District, Monroeville, Pa.
All 15 winners receive a new Intel-powered convertible classmate PC, donated by Intel Corporation. The three Gold Star winners also receive $2,500 to support professional development and/or classroom technology purchases, a 10-pack volume license for one of Inspiration Software’s visual learning software tools, along with the supporting lesson plan books, and a six-month Atomic Learning video subscription. The 12 Silver Star award winners receive $1,000 for professional development and/or classroom technology and a five-pack volume license for an Inspiration Software product with supporting lesson plan books.
“The educators who entered our new Inspired Visual Learning Awards program gave us great insights into how visual learning is being used across the curriculum at their schools around the world, as well as what is needed to help them take the integration of this proven instructional strategy to the next level,” said Mona Westhaver, president and co-founder, Inspiration Software. “We are proud to honor these 15 remarkable educators and know that with the new visual learning software, technology and professional development opportunities supported by our awards, they will have even more stories of creative teaching and improved student learning to share with us in the future.”
The three Gold Star Inspired Visual Learning Award winners are illustrative of the creative ways that teacher around the world are using visual learning to help students of all ages and abilities to learn and build critical thinking skills.
Gold Star winner Jason Rushing teaches educators in his school – and throughout the state of Nebraska – how to use Kidspiration with their students to teach math, language arts and science, mapping back to state and district standards. His award will support attendance at the 2009 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in June in Washington, D.C., as well as to purchase digital cameras and even more Kidspiration 3 upgrade licenses for his school.
At the Cathedral School, Diocese of Raleigh, N.C., Gold Star winner and media specialist Kimberly Seder worked with teachers and students in grades 4-8 to use Inspiration and Kidspiration to plan and organize a Web celebrating the school’s centennial. They created a timeline and learned about the events that had changed the world, the country, their state and their school during the past century. She will use the Inspired Visual Learning Award for a workshop at the school on integrating technology into the curriculum and to purchase more laptops for the school.
For high school biology teacher and Gold Star winner Cheryl Teaters, technology and visual learning are integral parts of daily science instruction. This school year, her students used Inspiration to complete an innovative cell analogy project, where they compared each individual organelle of a cell to another “organism” such as a shopping mall or a car. Teaters plans to use her award to spread the word about Inspiration and visual learning in her school with a professional development workshop, and to purchase digital cameras and other technology to support the school-wide use of visual learning.
The 12 talented teachers who won Silver Star Inspired Visual Learning Awards are named below, along with brief descriptions of how they use visual learning with their students and how they will use their awards.
- Megan Clapp, technology integration coordinator, Cooperative Educational Services, Therapeutic Day School, Trumbull, Conn., said technology has truly changed the ways that teachers use visual learning with students at her K-12 special education school. In language arts, they use Inspiration to brainstorm ideas and create character maps. In math, students use the visual manipulatives in Kidspiration to problem-solve as a group on an interactive whiteboard. She will use her award to support the purchase of an additional whiteboard for the school to provide training for teachers on using Inspiration on a whiteboard.
- Michael Eppolito, teacher, Flood Brook Union School, Windsor Southwest Supervisory Union, Londonderry, Vt., describes himself as a “champion” of Inspiration and Kidspiration in his school and district, supporting their integration across the curriculum as well as by educators for a planning tool. He will use his award to purchase an interactive whiteboard and to attend a workshop on integrating it into the curriculum.
- With Inspiration, students in Sabine Fleshner’s German classes at Millard Public School, Omaha, Neb., organize vocabulary, learn grammar concepts, build family trees, develop German reading comprehension and even take notes in German. Her award will support the purchase of an interactive whiteboard or audio response system for her classroom.
- The kindergarteners in Jennifer Frederick’s class at Fairview Elementary School, Lake Charles, La., learn with Kidspiration every day. Frederick uses visual learning to support reading and math instruction and to keep children on track to master the Louisiana learning goals. Her award will support attendance at the 2009 NECC in Washington, D.C., a workshop at her school on visual learning and the purchase of MP3 players and handheld computers for her classroom.
- For Paula Hogue, art teacher, Mount Saint Charles Academy, Woonsocket, R.I., Inspiration is her personal planning tool as well as an instructional tool. With Inspiration, her Advanced Art students planned a visual presentation highlighting their artwork for a potential job interview. The award will support the purchase of a high-quality printer for producing professional quality prints of her students’ artwork.
- Saima Khalique, teacher, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, had eighth-grade students use InspireData to conduct a survey asking the question, “Does our lifestyle and diet affect our health and exam grades?” With the Inspired Visual Learning Award, Khalique will participate in an online professional development course and purchase a multimedia projector for the school’s resource room.
- Sherri Miller, instructional technology resource teacher, Gloucester County Public Schools, Gloucester, Va., works closely with her school’s teachers and students to integrate both Inspiration and Kidspiration into teaching and learning. Her award will support the purchase of her school’s first interactive whiteboard on a portable rolling stand so that it can be shared by many teachers.
- With InspireData, students in Mickey Monahan’s Advanced Placement government classes at James Wood High School, Winchester, Va., understood the changing data around the 2008 presidential election as well as conducted their own surveys and analyzed the results. As a result of her award, educators in her district will have the opportunity to attend an InspireData Summer Camp, where they will learn more about using the visual way to understand and explore data with their students. She will also purchase an interactive whiteboard and airliner pad for her classroom.
- Maureen Murphy, technology teacher/coordinator, St. Celestine School, Elmwood Park, Ill., sees Inspiration and Kidspiration as key to differentiating instruction across the curriculum. She uses graphic organizers to teach second graders about spiders and to teach fifth graders the elements that make a planet habitable as well as the events surrounding the Revolutionary War. Her award will support the purchase of new presentation technology tools for her school and attendance at a conference on integrating quality Web sites into classroom instruction.
- Whether she is teaching math or language arts, Michelle O'Brien, fifth-grade teacher, Mary Eyre Elementary School, Salem-Keizer School District, Salem, Ore., relies on both Inspiration and Kidspiration to help her students understand complex topics and communicate their ideas clearly. The Inspired Visual Learning Award will support the purchase of an interactive whiteboard and projector for her classroom.
- As an instructional leader in her school, Vicky Richter, library media center teacher, Benjamin Middle School, Benjamin School District 25, West Chicago, Ill., works with teachers at all grade levels to help them integrate visual learning into instruction. The grant will allow Benjamin Middle School to license Inspiration Software’s visual learning software for all of its computers.
- With Inspiration, Oanh Vovan, head of modern languages, American School of Bombay, Mumbai, India, has a powerful tool to help his foreign language students learn vocabulary as well as write essays. Vovan said planning writing with Inspiration is “like going shopping to gather all of the ingredients before cooking.” The Inspired Learning Award will be used for professional development and to support attendance at a conference on integrating technology into learning.
This awards program builds on the company’s decade-long tradition of honoring educators for their creative use of visual learning in the classroom. Through its own and other awards programs that it has sponsored, such as the Intel Schools of Distinction Awards, Inspiration Software has recognized hundreds of educators from the United States and other countries around the world.
For more information about Inspiration Software and the Inspired Visual Learning Awards, visit http://www.inspiration.com.
About Inspiration Software, Inc.
Recognized as the leader in visual thinking and learning, Inspiration Software, Inc.’s award-winning software tools, Inspiration®, Kidspiration and InspireData®, are based on proven visual learning methodologies that help students think, learn and achieve. With the powerful combination of visual learning and technology, students in grades K-12 learn to clarify thoughts, organize and analyze information, integrate new knowledge and think critically. Founded more than 25 years ago by Donald Helfgott and Mona Westhaver, the company’s visual learning software tools are used today by more than 25 million students and teachers worldwide.
For more information, press only:
Lisa Wolfe, L. Wolfe Communications, 773-227-1049, lwolfe@lwolfe.com
©2009 Inspiration Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Inspiration Software®, Kidspiration® and Inspiration® are registered trademarks of Inspiration Software, Inc. All other brands are the property of their respective owners.
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