Uses for Wordle

I must admit that I was dubious about being able to use Wordle for anything other than spelling practice. Althought I couldn't access the 13 Ways to Use Wordle, Clever Sheep or Nik Peachy links, I just did a quick google search and came across a PowerPoint entitled 25 Ways to Use Wordle in Slideshare. While many of the applications did not interest me or seemed to be too advanced for fourth graders, there were so many great ideas! I also enjoyed Jen Wagner's PPT filled with creative ideas for the younger grades. Below are approaches I would like to put to use in my classroom.

• Writing exercise: Choose a fairy tale or tall tale and type in the text. Use the word cloud as a way for them to guess which tale was used. Have them create their own version of the tale. ** I think I would use Word Sift for this one. I like that it will automatically pull the top 50 words instead of using every single word that was written. It will save me from having to decide which words I want to use.
• Editing: Cut and paste their narrative or paragraph into Wordle. Examine the large words and see if they can go back and insert synonyms. This will help them vary their word choice.
• Class Rules: I already have my kids list their ideas for our class rules. We create a word document together that is projected for the entire class to read. We then try to combine ideas and make a reasonable size list of class rules. It takes FOREVER! And most of the kids get bored. Using Wordle will greatly reduce the time it takes to shape our list. Plus the kids will be excited to see it. And I really like the idea of using the word cloud itself as a the class rules poster.
• Book Jacket: Not sure if I'll be able to work this in, but I loved the idea of having the kids create a book jacket using Wordle. It would take some big picture thinking for them to decide what words would be best to represent the book. They would also have to consider how many times to input each word to achieve the desired size.
• Summarizing/Predicting: Take non-fiction text or fiction text and create a Wordle. Display the Wordle either before or after the kids have read. Have them either predict what the main idea of the text will be or use the vocabularly words that turn out to summarize what the main idea was.
• Character Traits: Students will write down the three words that best describe a main character of selected reading. When we compile the words, the word cloud will show the traits that were most commonly listed. Discussion will follow about what events from the book caused us to attribute the traits to the character. We could also discuss whether some of the smaller words are accurate.