Wordle

I scrolled through the “top 100 tools for learning” to find a niche tool that would be beneficial for my own middle school language arts classroom. One tool that interested me was Wordle (www.wordle.net) where users can create word clouds with any kind of text. I originally was unsure what a word cloud was and pictured something similar to what you find in comic strips when characters talk or think. However, I found that word clouds are basically a way to jumble a bunch of words together in a meaningless order. Instead of words forming phrases or sentences, they are put together in ways that generally do not create an overall meaning. The format of a word cloud is similar to word magnets that you may find jumbled around on a locker or refrigerator. Initially I thought that this tool could not be beneficial for classroom use; however, as I created more word clouds ideas began to form.

Each week in my class students learn ten new vocabulary words through the Quack SAT Vocabulary Program. Students create a Quack word wall in the classroom displaying the ten words for that week. Wordle could be used to display the words as well as the definitions in the classroom. One word cloud could be comprised of the vocabulary words and another could be made up of one word definitions. Students could use the definition word clouds to point to the meaning of each vocabulary word. The word clouds could be visually displayed in the classroom, used for studying, or utilized during a Quack vocabulary game before a test or quiz. Another way that Wordle could be used in my classroom is during the introduction of any part of speech unit. Throughout the year, I cover all parts of speech and typically use sentence strips to display words of a particular part of speech around the classroom. It is extremely time consuming to write and then cut out fifty or so prepositions, adjectives, verbs, etc. Instead I could create word clouds pertaining to a particular part of speech to display in the classroom.

Because the words are randomized when using Wordle, the tool is not beneficial when you want to emphasize a particular sentence or phrase. For example, the definition for didactic is “intended to teach; morally instructive.” If I were to create a word cloud of vocabulary definitions using this one, all of the words would separate from each other taking away from the overall meaning of the phrase. Instead, I would need to use one word that generally describes didactic – “teach.” Basically, Wordle can not be used for anything that needs to be organized in a particular way. The purpose of the tool is to emphasize an idea or theme by using words that describe the topic. Words are then displayed randomly to stress the overall meaning.

Wordle is extremely easy to use and word clouds can be created in a matter of seconds. The word clouds can be printed, opened into a new window, or saved to the public gallery. The word cloud itself can be manipulated in many ways including the change of font, color, layout, and even language. My only problem with the Wordle tool is that users are not able to copy the word clouds to paste into another document. This limits the versatility of the final Wordle image. However, the site itself includes a gallery of publicly published word clouds, a Wordle blog, forum, and a FAQ page. Overall the site allows for the creative experimentation of words.

Reviews:
http://www.lunch.com/reviews/UserReview-Wordle_net_website_-1383734-8075-A_Word_About_Wordle.html
http://treasuredvalley.com/2009/12/wordle%E2%80%99ing-idaho-business-review/
http://museums-now.blogspot.com/2008/11/museum-leed-fridays-wordle-review_14.html


The link below will take you to a Wordle I created using prepositions
title="Wordle: Prepositions"> src="http://www.wordle.net/thumb/wrdl/1418745/Prepositions"
alt="Wordle: Prepositions"
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd">