Word Clouds
Word Clouds are an effective tool for students to visually see how words are related to each other (Hakuta, 2011). Through the beautiful displays of text created by students or entered from articles, students can begin to see the association between words and develop a multi-layered definition to attach to terms (Beck & McKeown, 2001). Furthermore, analyzing the relationship of words in word clouds develops higher order thinking skills (Warner and Jones, 2011).
Benefits of Word Clouds (Zeiger, 2012)
Word Cloud in use
When introducing a new unit of study, a word cloud is useful to generating a visual representation of students' prior knowledge
1. Ask students to brainstorm words they associate with the title of the topic, Ancient Egypt. Each student should have 3 words, they can write these down on a sheet of paper, or send them in a google form.
2. As soon as students' answers are collected, copy them down into Wordle.
3. Show the created Wordle to the class.
4. Open a discussion with students about what words were the most common, therefore the largest and what they know about them. I assume these words be concepts like pyramids, mummies, and pharaohs.
Adaptations
Word Cloud in Writing
Word clouds are great for editing one's own work and analyzing a text, therefore meeting the following standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.5
With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.9.A
Apply grade 8 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new").
Resources to Create Word Clouds
Benefits of Word Clouds (Zeiger, 2012)
- Helps students analyze word usage in their writing or in others
- Helps students understand the main idea of a text by seeing the emboldened words
- Students gain a complex understanding of vocabulary terms
- Engages visual learners
Word Cloud in use
When introducing a new unit of study, a word cloud is useful to generating a visual representation of students' prior knowledge
1. Ask students to brainstorm words they associate with the title of the topic, Ancient Egypt. Each student should have 3 words, they can write these down on a sheet of paper, or send them in a google form.
2. As soon as students' answers are collected, copy them down into Wordle.
3. Show the created Wordle to the class.
4. Open a discussion with students about what words were the most common, therefore the largest and what they know about them. I assume these words be concepts like pyramids, mummies, and pharaohs.
Adaptations
- Engage students prior knowledge about a topic by brainstorming words to create a word cloud
- See students learning after a unit
- Compare and Contrast pre- and post- word clouds over a unit/topic
- Analyze lyrics in a song or words in a poem
- Find the main idea from an important historical document
- Can use it to summarize an article/reading
- Use it for editing a writing to see words that are used to much
- Introduce new words with their antonyms or synonyms
- Use word clouds with spelling lists
- Create a Tagxedo word cloud where the words of the text make up a similar image, like the Declaration of Independence in the form of the United States
Word Cloud in Writing
Word clouds are great for editing one's own work and analyzing a text, therefore meeting the following standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.5
With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.9.A
Apply grade 8 Reading standards to literature (e.g., "Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new").
Resources to Create Word Clouds
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Literacy in Science: Word Clouds
In this video, teacher Peter Hill uses Wordle to engage students in a reading before they read it. He suggests giving them the Word Cloud of the article and based on the frequency of word use, they are to predict and analyze what it's about, the main ideas and unfamiliar words. |
Word Clouds and Spiral Questions
This video also has students view a word cloud before a reading. In this case, the reading is Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. This shows how difficult old primary source documents can be put into Wordle to make the meaning more clear. Then they use several questions using the 'Detective Analogy' about the Word Cloud to guide students analysis of the text. |
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References
Beck, I.L., & McKeown, M.G. (2001). Text Talk: Capturing the benefits of read-aloud experiences for young children. The Reading Teacher, 55 (1), 10-20.
Hakuta, K. (2011, January 1). "WordSift": Supporting Instruction and Learning through Technology in San Francisco. The Senior Urban Education Research Fellowship Series. Volume IV. . Retrieved July 11, 2014, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED518092.pdf
TeachingChannel. (2011, November 9). Literacy in Science: Word Clouds. YouTube. Retrieved July 24, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgaE0xi6A60
TeachTCI. (2012, June 19). Word Clouds & Spiral Questions. YouTube. Retrieved July 24, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9pjDVC9Udo
Warner, W., & Jones, J. (2011, June 1). The Wonder of Words: Using Technology to Support Vocabulary Instruction. The Agricultural Education Magazine, 83, 7.
Zeiger, S. (2012, February 27). 4 Ways Word Clouds Can Benefit Students Immediately. . Retrieved July 24, 2014, from http://www.smatoos.com/4-ways-word-clouds-can-benefit-students-immediately
Beck, I.L., & McKeown, M.G. (2001). Text Talk: Capturing the benefits of read-aloud experiences for young children. The Reading Teacher, 55 (1), 10-20.
Hakuta, K. (2011, January 1). "WordSift": Supporting Instruction and Learning through Technology in San Francisco. The Senior Urban Education Research Fellowship Series. Volume IV. . Retrieved July 11, 2014, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED518092.pdf
TeachingChannel. (2011, November 9). Literacy in Science: Word Clouds. YouTube. Retrieved July 24, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgaE0xi6A60
TeachTCI. (2012, June 19). Word Clouds & Spiral Questions. YouTube. Retrieved July 24, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9pjDVC9Udo
Warner, W., & Jones, J. (2011, June 1). The Wonder of Words: Using Technology to Support Vocabulary Instruction. The Agricultural Education Magazine, 83, 7.
Zeiger, S. (2012, February 27). 4 Ways Word Clouds Can Benefit Students Immediately. . Retrieved July 24, 2014, from http://www.smatoos.com/4-ways-word-clouds-can-benefit-students-immediately