Both the applications, Wordle and Tagxedo, allow the user to compile a list of words and make a word cloud out of them. I found both applications to be a ton of fun! At first I though I liked Wordle best because it was the first one that I tried. However, after trying out Tagxedo and seeing all the fun shapes you can put your words in, I realized it is more elaborate. With Tagxedo you can even type in a URL and the application will create a word cloud with the words off of the website which is what I did with the image below.
The image below this one, is another example of wordle. I have previously posted on this blog about this application and used it again for my ED Tech class:
After using both applications I definitely think there are ways this could be used in the classroom. Wordle can be used to type in words about various subjects you are teaching or perhaps a unit your are covering such as the rainforest. You could type in words that relate to the rainforest and it will make a word cloud of out them for you. Or if you wanted to get really creative, you could use tagxedo and choose the shape of a cloud that is raining for this word cloud and then type in all your words. I think that would be a fun way to use these applications. Other ways I saw that are possible, especially with Tagxedo is using the clouds that are in shapes of famous historical people and brainstorming words that described them and making a word cloud. Also, listed on DED 318's Website for this week were some ideas that I thought were fun.
Various ideas include:
-Students could use wordle to do an "About Me" activity and pick words that describe them, not unlike the activity we just did for our Ed Tech class with wordle (my example is above).
-Another idea I thought was fun was having various words about a book listed and having the students guess which book it was talking about.
-If you are dealing with older students you could use it to list various criteria required for essays and such.
-Make Wordles of famous speeches.
-Students could make wordles of the week's vocabulary, or vocabulary for a book that they are reading for your class.
-Wordles about popular holidays
-Make a wordle with all the names of your students and post it on the wall of your classroom
-Other fun ideas I found on our DED 318 Website include:
Guess the Wordle which is a fun way to get your students involved by looking at wordles and guessing the relationship of the words listed.
and some of the ideas I got were off of this slideshow 50 Ways to use Wordle in the classroom
Overall, I've found that wordle and tagxedo are great resources for my future classroom.
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