I have been seeing word clouds used in many different ways on the web, and being a visual person I have found them very powerful. I decided to try Wordle and put it to a learning use. It is very easy and quick to use.
I would love to use this as a brainstorming tool and what about using it to assess students written work. In my teaching practices I have often struggled to get children to see how they are using the same word repetitively. This is part of learning, but seeing your own written work transformed into to visual clouds that make words that appear more frequently in the text bigger and bolder, makes you reflect from a new perspective.
My own reflection is that I am on my journey of teaching, learning and ICT. I have surprised myself with a growing interest in digital literacy. The truth is the 'digital' side of it is what engages me and will engage more children into literacy. My blog writing has developed my own literacy skills and concepts. I also picked up on a few repeated words that I felt I could find better alternatives too in my writing.
Do you have any ideas for educational uses of Wordle?
No comments: