It's a well known fact that teachers are always looking for new and innovative ways to get their students engaged in their learning. Teachers, I present to you Wordle. What's Wordle? Besides super fun, it's an online tool that allows you to create word clouds. This educational resource makes it easy and accessible for students to take their information, and display it in a fun and creative way. As Wordle is simply an outlet for your student's to display their knowledge, this resource can easily be classified as cross-curricular. Examples of how Wordle can be used in the classroom include:
A neat aspect of this resource is that it demonstrates words that have been used more than once. If a word has been entered multiple times, it will create a large and bold word within your word cloud. This way you can emphasize words within your cloud to draw attention to the main idea. It could also be used as a marking tool for teachers - if students are given instructions to make a word cloud consisting of various characteristics of a character in a book they are reading, a teacher can easily pinpoint certain words that the child is continuously using. This can then help you as the teacher determine whether the student was challenging themselves, coming up with various adjectives, or if they chose to use the same one time and time again.
Overall I find this resource a very powerful and educational tool. Though not very complex, Wordle offers children the option to display their knowledge in their own creative way. Being able to express themselves is something students thrive on, therefore this tool engages and teaches the students.
- As An Introduction - have your students choose adjectives that describe themselves and post their word clouds around the classroom
- To Research A Topic - as you introduce your students to a new unit, or topic, having them research and place their information into a word cloud is a fun and creative way to display their knowledge
- A Portion of a an Assignment - to showcase a small essay or a paragraph
A neat aspect of this resource is that it demonstrates words that have been used more than once. If a word has been entered multiple times, it will create a large and bold word within your word cloud. This way you can emphasize words within your cloud to draw attention to the main idea. It could also be used as a marking tool for teachers - if students are given instructions to make a word cloud consisting of various characteristics of a character in a book they are reading, a teacher can easily pinpoint certain words that the child is continuously using. This can then help you as the teacher determine whether the student was challenging themselves, coming up with various adjectives, or if they chose to use the same one time and time again.
Overall I find this resource a very powerful and educational tool. Though not very complex, Wordle offers children the option to display their knowledge in their own creative way. Being able to express themselves is something students thrive on, therefore this tool engages and teaches the students.