Wordle

We have posted Wordle on this blog before but sometimes we just explain a site and link you to it and we don't really put alot more into the post that can be considered content "meat" if you will. While in Atlanta at the GAETC confernce I had an opportunity to see a 5th grade teacher use Wordle (http://www.wordle.net/) to work with her students on writing and word frequency. The teacher had the students type paragraphs and essays into Microsoft Word and then copy and paste that into the Wordle text field. The teacher used the tools of the program to teach her students to pick better words, watch pronouns, etc.  It was a nice approach to the 5th grade writing assessment and the prep for that benchmark. Yet another teacher used it as a visual presentation tool. Students wrote a speech or story and then could ONLY use the wordle projected on the screen as an electronic poster. Public Speaking is very hard for our students when it is for a grade or mastery check-off. Put them in the hallway between classes and they speak loud and clear, right? As always, you have to think outside the box. A peer said in a meeting recently that all these great sites we show or post are just tools. You can have all the tools in the world and not build a house. If you know how to use those tools and can fit them into the right places, your house will be a piece of cake to build. She's so very right...so kudos out to Laura for saying that out loud today. I guess too many times I assume that everyone would use a site for a particular skill and don't elaborate much on the topic....for that, my apologies. I will try to do better in the future and maybe we can build those houses together! Here's a presentation to give you ideas of how to use Wordle in the classroom. Enjoy.