Word Clouds

This assignment was to create a word cloud using the wordle program. Word clouds are a great visual tool that are fun and creative way to capture your student's attention. Wordle is a very easy to use program you have three different options to create your word cloud; you can enter in a bunch of text and hit create, you can type in a url of any blog, blog feed, or any other web page that has an Atom or RSS feed, or finally you can enter in a user name to see their tags. Any way you want to go about it you can create a word cloud from the method of your choice. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. After you have created the cloud of your desire you can then share it with friends or save it to wordle's gallery for all the public to view.

The assignment was to create a word cloud of something in your field and post it to your blog. I chose to create a world cloud using the star spangled banner. I chose the star spangled banner for many reasons but mainly because if I was teaching right now I would be preparing to reflect on the tenth anniversary of 9/11/01 the day that changed America. This would be geared for grades 3-6 the students would learn about the history of the star spangled banner, our flag it symbols and meanings. Students would be asked questions as to where they have seen the flag, what does our flag mean to them, and what do they think the flag meant to the men and women on 9/11. I would then have this world cloud projected on the screen or even laminated and posted on the wall. Each child would be given a copy of the star spangled banner learn to sing it and then discuss the lyrics. This wonderful lesson plan was inspired by ideas provided by scholastic learning if you would like to see more of this lesson plan you can always view it here.

As you can see above I changed the color scheme of of my world cloud to red, white, and blue to emphasize patriotism. I also changed the font to Berylium to add a little bit of old fashion hand writing to it. I left my layout at mostly horizontal because majority of the words were too long to go vertical. Overall, this was a short fun creative activity that can really leave an impact on your classroom if used correctly. My word cloud was saved to wordle's gallery. I also used jing to create a screen cast as another option for viewing. I think that this activity covers NETS-T 1 (facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity) and NETS-2 (design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments).

That wraps up this assignment hope everyone enjoys and has a happy and safe labor day!
Andria