Word Clouds with Tagxedo

Creating Word Clouds with Tagxedo

What is Tagxedo?

     Tagxedo is a free site for creating word clouds.  Users can take words from any source, including blogs, tweets, news articles, and turn them into appealing visual images. 

Tagxedo's technology highlights and emphasizes how frequently words are used in the text.  Tagxedo, unlike other word cloud generators, allows the clouds to be customized by color, shape, and designs. Additionally, this site allows you to exclude words from your cloud.  

 

      

Give me an example.
      One way I have used Tagxedo is to visually represent data from an informal survey I gave to my students.  When trying to learn about my students' attitudes and feelings towards writing, I asked them to provide 3 words they associated with the word "writing."  Their responses were placed into a spreadsheet, but unless I looked at every single column and response, I could not get a good feel for the general theme of their thoughts.  With Tagexdo, I was able to copy and paste all of their words into the text box, and then the word cloud highlighted and emphasized the most common words used by my students.  It was much simpler to determine if my students held positive or negative beliefs about writing in general by looking at the larger, bolder words.  Below are two different variations of my students' responses about writing. 

Want more ideas?
     One way students could use Tagexdo in class is to edit and revise their writing.  Because Tagxedo emphasizes the most frequent words, this would be an excellent tool for having students examine their word choice.  Students would easily be able to see what words or phrases they were overusing, and then return to their writing to replace redundant words with more creative choices.  
     Tagexdo could also be used when learning about main idea.  Students who struggle with determining main idea or theme could create a word cloud from an article of piece of text they were assigned to read, and Tagxedo's cloud generator would show in bold the words and ideas presented most often in the literature.  This could also be used as a final project after students have read a novel or set of related articles in which they demonstrate the main idea or themes they found while reading. 
     Lastly, students could use Tagxedo as an "About Me" tool at the beginning of the year.  Because there are so many customizable options, students could create and post a word cloud that describes and visually represent their unique qualities and personalities.  Rather than having presentation after presentation, students could post their individualized words clouds for others to examine and reflect on.  

 

Other Sites Similar to Tagxedo:

ABCYa Word Clouds for Kids

Tagul

Wordle

Word It Out

Yippy Cloud Creator

Resources:

All Things Tagxedo:  101 Ways to Use Tagxedo

Ezine Articles:  Good Writing - Using Word Clouds to Determine the Main Point of an Essay

Free Technology for Teachers: Tagxedo - Word Clouds with Style

Megan's Education Technology:  A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Socrative in the Classroom

Informal and Formal Assessments Using Socrative

What is Socrative?

     Socrative is a free, online student response system that can be used by almost any tool connected to the Internet.  This website offers teachers multiple different ways to gather data, information, and student feedback.  Check out the Introduction Video to gain a better understanding!

     Students like Socrative because it's engaging, and teachers like it because it is fairly simple to use!  Socrative allows student responses to be viewed in various ways, including multiple choice, true/false, or short-answer.  Every time students share responses on any Socrative form, the results are instant and can be viewed by the entire class.  This is a simple way to check-for-understanding, stimulate discussion, assess student knowledge, and engage users in a different form of questioning/answering.  Below you can see the set-up of the various student-response options.

Give me an example.

     One way I have used Socrative in my class is by posing an open-ended discussion question that could have multiple different answers.  I post this question on the board or verbally ask the question aloud.  Students then go to m.socrative.com (the student response site) and enter the teacher's room number.  This is per-determined when you create a teacher account, and it remains the same every time you use the same log-in. 

Students then type/text their responses to the question posed and click submit when they have finished.  

My favorite aspect of the short-answer responses is the ability to send all of the student responses to their devices, where they can then "vote" on the best answer.  I really like to use this as a discussion starter and as a way to share the multiple different perspectives in my classroom.  It's also great for students to see how other students write, form their thoughts, and reflect on questions asked. 

Want more ideas?

     The best place to look for more ideas on how to incorporate the different functions of Socrative is on their "How it Works" page.  This website will walk you through all of your options and give easy-to-follow instructions on how to use each tool.  

     Additionally, you can check out a blog post by Bradley Lands, on his blog "The Landscape of Learning."  Here he details 13 different ways he uses Socrative for formative assessments, and he even includes a video of a specific use in his classroom. 

      Lastly, take a look at the different blog posts on "Free Technology for Teachers."  In a guest post from Lynda Hall, "Gathering Feedback with Socrative Classroom Activities," she details how Socrative allows her to gather feedback from her students.  If you're looking for something more creative, competitive, and engaging, try using the Space Race option.  In the post "Stage a Space Race in Socrative", Richard Byrne shares his experiences with the Space Race quiz competition. 

Resources:

Socrative - How it Works

Free Technology for Teachers: Gathering Feedback with Socrative Classroom Activities

Free Technology for Teachers:  Stage a Space Race in Socrative

The Landscape of Learning: 13 Ways to Use Socrative as a Formative Assessment
EdSurge: Socrative 

Blogging in the Classroom

Blogs in the Classroom:  Why all students 

should be "bloggers"

       Teenagers?  Posting freely on the Internet?  Writing whatever thoughts pop into their heads?  Are you crazy? 

     Some people consider teens to be flighty, self-centered, materialistic, and unable to carry on an intelligent conversation about relevant real-world topics.  So the thought of allowing these students to share their ideas with a global community is frightening and concerning.  However, it is our job as educators to teach students their mile-a-minute thoughts and ideas have power and meaning.  It's our job to teach them how to harness those ideas and turn them into articulate, written words.  

     Many people believe that blogging is about socializing on the Internet.  Conversely, blogging is about writing, reading, and facilitating 21st Century skills and literacy.  If we ignore a technology that gives us a platform to combine all of these things, we are doing our students or their futures a great disservice.    

All students should have an opportunity to create and maintain a blog on a regular basis. 

Students should be encouraged and taught to blog because...

1.  Global Audience and Authentic Writing
     Writing at school is almost always dictated by a teacher or curriculum.  There is not much creativity and usually the audience for student writing is just the teacher.  Sometimes students share their writing with a partner or their classmates.  Either way, this does not create an authentic writing experience.  When students realize that blogging creates an audience of global readers, their interest in writing increases.  No longer are students trying to impress the teacher, but rather they are trying to reach out to readers who share similar interests and ideas.  This type of writing is much more authentic and more along the lines of how professional writers improve their craft.  Blogging allows students an opportunity to experience what "real" writing is like!

2.  Student Engagement and Ownership of Writing   
     Blogs can be written on anything; the list of topics is endless!  This is almost exactly opposite to the type of writing most students complete in educational settings.  All of a sudden, students have free choice on what to read and write about.  Student bloggers take more ownership of their writing when they are able to choose a subject they have a deep interest in.  Because of this ownership and freedom of choice, students find writing to be more engaging and they actually get excited about posting to their blogs!  When students are engaged and see the real-world applications of writing, their writing and attitudes about writing will improve. 

3.  Increase in Quality and Quantity of Writing
      Lastly, students who create and maintain blogs show improvement in the quality of their writing.  With traditional writing, students pay little attention to grammar, punctuation, capitalization... the general conventions of writing.  They see little point to putting in effort to improve this writing trait.  However, when students are encouraged to blog, they suddenly find a need to improve the quality of their writing.  Most student bloggers want to be taken seriously; they want to look like they know what they are talking about.  In order for these things to occur, their writing must appear academic and practiced.  Additionally, a student's writing voice dramatically improves when they write a blog because they truly care about their topic.  For this reason, combined with students taking ownership of their writing, blogging is a wonderful tool to help students improve the quality of their writing and the amount they are willing to write.   

Valid Concerns: What about Internet safety?

      Despite the strong positives for blogging in the classroom, there are many parents, school administrators, and teachers who are very worried about students being a contributing member of a global community.  There are concerns about student privacy and safety, sharing of too much personal information, cyber-bullying, and possible communication with "strangers."  All of these are valid concerns and should be addressed with all students before beginning a blog.   

However, blogging in the classroom opens up multiple opportunities to teach digital citizenship skills and provide students with a real-world opportunity to learn about Internet safety. 

When teachers begin teaching their students about blogs and how to write for blogs, they cannot skim over important Internet safety lessons.  Blogging opens up essential discussions about sharing of personal information; what is too much, what is appropriate.  Teachers can also provide students with knowledge on proper citation and copyright issues, and students will learn how to create and keep their digital footprint clean.  One of the most important lessons that can be taught with blogging is how students can use the Internet and global users to grow a professional learning network.  This will require students to know the importance of mutual and appropriate communications with "strangers."  What better way to teach young learners how to properly use the Internet than through authentic and real-world application? Despite the concerns associated with blogging, the essential digital lessons associated with web logs far outweigh the initial concerns. 

Clearly, blogging should be a part of a student's educational experience. 

Infographic by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano

 

Resources:

Blogging in the Classroom Infographic

Successful and Safe Educational Blogging

Using Blogs to Integrate Technology in the Classroom

Why Blog with 6 and 7 Year Olds

Wallwisher in the Classroom

Using Wallwisher:  Brainstorm, Share, Discuss! 

What is Wallwisher?  
   Wallwisher.com is a free online tool used for collaboration, and sharing of opinions, ideas, or resources.  I liken Wallwisher to a Web 2.0 version of a cork board where anyone is free to post notices, important information, and memos.  When using Wallwisher, posters can type up to 160 characters and link to related images, videos, and PDF files.  Walls can be both public or private and can be easily shared in multiple different ways.


Give me an example.
     One way I have used Wallwisher is for a "check-for-understanding."  I wanted to be sure my students could identify and write different types of figurative language.  For the activity, I asked the students to select a certain type of figurative language, go the the wall website I created for class, and had them post an example of their type of figurative language.  While it was not required, I suggested they include an image that visually supported their type of figurative language.  Here is an example from one of my classes!  Click HERE to go to this Wallwisher page!

What can I use Wallwisher for?
    I imagine the uses for Wallwisher are endless.  Because of it's collaborative nature and the easy-to-use functions, it would be an excellent tool for all subjects, grade levels, and even for teachers and school staff members.  Here are a few simple ways to incorporate Wallwisher:

1.  Check for understanding - Pose a question or task for students and ask them to post their responses on a wall.  It's easy to see who is able to grasp the lesson concepts and who needs a bit more assistance.  If students struggle with writing and/or transferring their thoughts to text, have them post an image or video that achieves the same results.

2.  Brainstorming - When students have to begin an essay or project that requires pre-planning, have them post their initial thoughts and ideas on the wall.  Rather than discussing their ideas with just a few other students, everyone's ideas can be viewed.  This makes for an engaging discussion and encourages students to think outside of their own box.  

3.  Sharing of Resources - Staff members need some new tools for their "teacher toolbox?"  Students working on a research project?  Learning about a new topic and need to provide background knowledge?  Wallwisher could be used to pool ideas and resources.  When users find handy websites, videos,  articles, or images on a chosen topic, Wallwisher would be a terrific place to collaboratively share these ideas.  And because the wall stays active until the creator chooses to remove the link, students and teachers could return to the list when needed!

Want more ideas?  
From Wallwisher's homepage, they suggest:

For an abundant amount of ideas specific to classroom use, including many ways to tie in reading and writing skills, visit Sean Banville's blog post:  "Wallwisher - 105 Classroom Ideas."

Resources:  
Free Technology for Teachers:  Using Wallwisher in the Classroom
The University of Scranton:  Online Tools for Teachers - Wallwisher
Learning and Teaching with the Web: Tool of the Month - Wallwisher