Word Clouds

CAC Wordle is a FREE tool to create beautiful word clouds.  To the left is an example of a word cloud describing our Curriculum Advisory Council.

You can either type in your own words or you can copy and paste text into it. The more frequently a word is used the larger the word becomes in the cloud.

Ideas:

Take a speech and dump it into Wordle ---- what words are emphasized? Click here for an example.

Create a word cloud as a summary of a reading assignment

Brainstorm for a writing assignment.

Joyce Valenza used Wordle to create word clouds for the sections of the library. Click here to see an example.

Directions:

  • Go to Wordle.
  • Click on CREATE.
  • Cut and past text or add your own.
  • Use normal spacing between words (no comas etc...)
  • If you have two words that you want displayed together use tilda sign (~) e.g. data~analysis
  • Repeat the words you want emphasized in the cloud e.g. curriculum curriculum curriculum
  • Click Go at the bottom of the text window.

wordle tool bar

  • Use the tool bar (pictured above) to change the layout and design. Play with the features until you have what you need.
  • Hit print screen and you can save the item as a picture to use.

Caution: Copy your text before you click on Go. That way if you think of another key word while in the design stage, you can paste the text back into the text window. Otherwise you loose all your work.

Click here to see another example and some "expert" suggestions.

Comments

Amaal said…
We used this tool in a Reading Apprenticeship training to do a quick review of what Reading Apprenticeship is. Teachers really found it valuable. Some of the ways they described using it were to surface prior knowledge and to collect big ideas that students get from text. It is an interactive tool and very engaging for kids.
November 18, 2008 at 5:47 PM
shartman said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
November 21, 2008 at 10:19 AM
shartman said…
These are really cool. There are endless possibilities for use in the classroom. I think that this would be a very motivating tool to use in any content area. I think that even kindergarten children would be able to use word clouds.
November 21, 2008 at 10:23 AM
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