Using Word Clouds in the Classroom

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#1 - Write "All About Me"
Students type in their strengths.
Put these writing pieces in word clouds,make posters and
display them.

#2 –
cloud a Book
Use sites like
Project Gutenberg
and grab the text
from copyright-
free books.

#3 - share criteria
Use grade-related criteria to highlight the main areas students
need to concentrate on to gain the best grades. The example
below is SQA criteria for General Writing in MFL.

#4 – Discussion point
Use as a discussion
point at beginning
or end of lesson.

#5 – Analyze criteria
Students work alone
or in small groups to
identify keywords
and terms for the
assignment criteria
and create a word
cloud out of the
target terms.

#6 - Guess What?
In this case, it’s a French fairy tale,but it could be anything!
The students guess what it is,and then use the cloud to highlight
key words so they can write their own tales.

#7 - Make the syllabus
look interesting!
Copy and paste the entire syllabus and print out (or use as part of
a display).

#8 - Improve students'
essay writing...
Copy and paste students' essays - compare the results and
discuss what has/hasn't been includedin the essays.

#9 - Study an author's diction in-depth:
Have them choose color to match the tone! (This is page one of Brave New
World by Aldous Huxley.)

#10 - norms
Have each student write expectations he has of the classroom.
Combine all lists to create a Classroom Norms poster.

#11 - Find out what ideas are most
important in a famous speech.
The word cloud below is from the text of President Obama's
Feb 24,2009 speech to Congress. Here, the 25 most
frequently used words in his speech are displayed.

#12 - Defining Skills
Before the dictionary comes out,give your students a
new vocabulary word and ask them to brainstorm all
the words they associate with it.Gather up all the
brainstormed words for a word cloud.
Source: Build Literacy Skills with Wordle

#12 - Defining Skills (cont.)
After the term has been formally defined,repeat the
process and compare to the "pre-dictionary" cloud.

#13 - Summarizing Skills
As a pre-reading exercise - copy/paste text of reading into a word
cloud and ask students to predict what the main ideas of the
reading will be.

#13 - Summarizing Skills (part 2)
Another pre-reading
option - give them a
word cloud of a non-
fiction reading and ask
them to use the word
cloud to generate a
title or headline before
they see the real
article.
Source: Build Literacy Skills
with Wordle

#13 - Summarizing Skills (part 3)
Post reading - ask them to reflect
on the reading based on a
prompt (main idea,what you've
learned,funniest element, etc.).
Collect all their reflectionsinto a
word cloud.

#14 - Comparison Skills
Comparison skills - Give them two different accounts/
essays on the same theme/event - let them compare the
word clouds generated by each.

#14 - Comparison Skills (part 2)
Or, generate word clouds for two different readings - then
let student see if they can match the word cloud to its
corresponding reading.

#15 - Classroom Polls
Talk about favorite anything
(here, we used colors).
Each child then types their
favorite.
The word cloud created
automatically shows the most
favored color.
Other ideas - birthday month,
fave animals, hardest spelling
word, feelings, etc.
Could easily adapt to higher
tasks and polls.

#16 - compare/contrast lit themes
@mjelson
Romeoand
Juliet
West Side Story

#17 Act as archaeologists
of a text's vocabulary
Step 1:paste in
a text,then
selectively
begin to
remove words.
Source: www.antheald.com/blog

#17 Act as archaeologists of a text's
vocabulary (cont.)
Step 2:Start with the most prominent (character
names and the most commonwords)

#17 Act as archaeologists of a text's
vocabulary (cont.)
Step 3:As you
'excavate' text,
patterns and sets
of vocabulary are
revealed.

#18 - Analyze Presentation Notes
Students (or teachers) create a
slide presentation.The notes are
written in the Notes section of
the slide.Once the presentation
is ready,all notes are copied and
pasted into a word cloud.
source: @njtechteacher

#18 - Analyze Presentation Notes
Students can analyze where
their words are repetitive (such
as like,love,or also) and adjust
their presentation notes.It can
be used as a teaser slide at the
beginning of the presentation.
source: @njtechteacher

#19 - Create a Custom Image
Header for Your Blog
Use your class blog url to
create a word cloud and use
the resulting image as the
custom image header for your
blog.
Change the header
periodicallyto reflect your
blog's changing themes and
content.
source: Michael Fawcett @teachernz

#20 - Compare History to
Historical Fiction
Make and compare
word clouds -
remind them to
make the genre title
bigger by typing it
several times. Post
to discuss,then post
in the hall or library.
Can also make use
to compare other
genres or topics
(solid v.gas).
source:@mtechman

#21 - Character Traits Analysis
source:@mwacker Michael Wacker

Step 3:Type in the character’s
name 10 times. Then type the
other character traits, typing
the most important one five
times, the next most
important four times,etc.
source:@mwacker Michael Wacker

Step 4: Generate the cloud,choosingthe color,
font (s), and layout to match the character.
source: MichaelWacker

Earth Day 2009 Billboard Winner.
This poster was created by Sophie, a sixth grader in Portland, OR.
She chose environmental concepts, submitted them to Wordle, and
found a type style she liked. Once the Wordle was printed, Sophie
taped it onto a window & traced the image. She drew on additional
elements and colored the whole piece.
#22 - Create Art

#23 - Character description
In reading groups (or alone) have students choose a character and
add as many words as they can. Compare results - why do we know
more about some than others? (This is Iron Man)
Source: @melhutch

#24 - Define characteristics
Adapted from an idea from @thespian70
What does it mean to be an American? An
atom? A planet? An earthquake? A mammal?
An ecosystem? A prime number?

#25 - collect vocabulary
For pronunciation
practice, type words with
the same sounds. (TIP:
Link words with a tilde
[~] to keep them
together (e.g.
les~enfants). The tilde
doesn't show up, but the
words stay together.
source @kaymcmeekin

#26 - Do a “”” "cloud Walk"
Instead of a
“picture walk”do
a“cloud walk,”
where students
visit other
students’word
clouds and hear
explanation.
adapted from an an idea by @fisher1000

#27 - Make a Unique Gift
Students can create word
clouds out of wedding vows,
family stories,favorite love
songs of their parents or
grandparents,or just the
names of the people in their
families to create a very
personal,but creative and
artistic gift that’s suitable for
framing.
source:@fisher1000

Cloud your State Standards during curriculum planning or as an
introduction for your students to what they will learn that year.
#28 - Prioritize Curriculum
source:@fisher1000

#29 - Compare for bias
Cloud news articles from several
sources and compare to look at bias
or to evaluate credible sources.
TheseWordlesare of Ashton Kutcher's victoryover
CNN to reach 1,000,000 followers on Twitter.To the
rightis the cloud of the FoxNews article,lower
rightis CNN, and below is MSNBC.
source:@fisher1000

Cloud a collection of words that representparts of speech.Change the colors to
white words on a black background and print on an overhead transparency. Project
onto a large sheet of butcher paper and ask the kids to come and color nouns a
certaincolor,verbs a different color,etc.
#30 - New Levels of Interactivity
source:@fisher1000

#30 - New Levels of Interactivity
source:@fisher1000
An extensionof this would be to cloud characters and character traits and use
a color to connect characters with their specific traits.

#31 - Power Writing Prompts
Cloud vocabulary,science text,or poem text.Display for students as idea
prompts. Students think for thirty/sixty seconds,then write continuously 2 - 4minutes
without st opping without worry of conventions.Stop.Count words.Repeat two more
times. Want more info on Power Writing? See this Slideshare.
source:@grammasheri teacher.se@gmail.com

#32 - Create an Audible cloud
Cloud some text,
and then ask
students to read the
cloud,one word
each,with volume
and tone
appropriate to size
and meaning of
word. (optional:
record the result)
source:@NeilAdam neil@beaconict.co.uk (Idea first heard on BBC R4 iPM program.)
If, by Rudyard Kipling (Top 30 words, no common words)

#33 - Spelling with Wordle
Cloud the weekly spelling list.

#34 - Wordle WORD WALLS!
source:@fisher1000
Instead of a traditional "Word Wall,"
create a cloud wall. Using a student
as a“ recorder," have students
brainstorm definitions,adjectives,
and synonyms for words,create a
cloud,including the the key word.
Hang on the wall so that students
can get a contextual referenceof
that class's vocabulary.

#35 - Create a Learning
Poster
Ask students to write
five words that describe
what they have learned
to do. Explain that they
can use verbs,nouns,
facts,skills or strategies.
(Tip:Use
blockposters.com to
turn it into a big poster!)
source @derrallg

#36 self-esteem boost &
relationship builder
Write each child's name on a separate sheet of paper.Circulate each
sheet around the class so each pupil writes at least 1 positive attribute
about every other pupil. They can repeat words others have used.
Collect the sheets,type each pupil's list of attributes (editing where
necessary!) with their name repeated 10 times & cloud the result.
source:@yzfreeman

#37 Clarify values for RE or ethics
This gives a picture of those values the class as a whole values most; or
done separately for two or more groups/classes it can
compare/contrast the value systems of separate groups/classes and
serve as an excellent debate trigger.
source:@yzfreeman

Brainstorm a list of at least 25 personal values that the class feels are
important to live by,or use a checklist like this one to select <50.
Give each pupil a list of the result to choose their top 5.
Collate & cloud the result.
source:@yzfreeman

Or do the exercise in slightly amended form before & after
exploring a particular ethical topic to see how the class's
values have changed as a result of their learning.
source:@yzfreeman

#38 Language News
Copy the front page of a news website (in a second language?).
Pick out the most important / common vocab to focus on...

#39 An alternative to a word search
source:Judy Valentine

#41 Assess
confidence
or concerns
Learners make a list of
things from recent work
they feel confident they
can do or that they think
they need more practice
on. Compile results into
two clouds.

#42 Mathematics Vocabulary
When introducing a topic or for review, ask studentsfor all the vocabulary
they can think of associated with the work they are studying.
(optional: add poster of math vocabulary to their learning journals)
source: Colleen Young

#45 climate
Create clouds for different elements of climate or location
(rainfall, snowfall, temperature, natural resources, etc.),sizing t
countries from greatest to least.

#48: Number line
Have students either spell out or use number
values to show relative size of numbers along
a number line or place value within the
metric system.

#49 statistical analysis
Can you
find the
mode?

#50 food journal
source:http://www.denverfoodrescue.org/
What
did you
eat this
week?

At Wordle Advanced
you can choose the
hex number color and
size of the text here,
simply and easily

Using Word Clouds in the Classroom

Using Word Clouds in the Classroom

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