Word clouds are a fun way to display student learning.  A few weeks ago, I created a word cloud using Wordle that summed up my students learning in Ancient Egypt. 

There are two popular words cloud generators - Wordle and Tagxedo.  Wordle creates word clouds in no defined shape. Tagxedo allows you to shape the word clouds into one of the shapes they have available, including an apple, airplane, or heart.
Here are some samples and ideas of how you can use them in your classroom.

All about Me Word Cloud 

 This is a fun activity at the beginning of the year or anytime!  

1) First have students type their name at least 15 times (so it will be the largest) 

2) Then have them type in things that describe them.  Favourite colour, favourite foods, hobbies, interests etc.  Again those things most important to them should be typed more than once and then they will be bigger. 

3) Print them off and display them.  They look cool in black and white too!

4) If you blog with your class have them embed it in their blog!  


One 'book-keeping' note.  It may be easier for them to type into a Word docucument first.  Then, have them cut and paste their work into Wordle or Tagxedo.  That way they can spell-check and ensure they have included everything they thought of.

Other Classroom uses for Word Cloud Generators:

• Title pages for content areas 

• What I / We have learned after completing a unit in Science, Socials etc. 

• Poetry
• Key words from a novel, A character study from a novel, turn a book report into a wordle and include it as part of the book report.
• Mother's Day and Father's day cards.  Have the students type in the things that they like most about their parent.  Then print them off and create cards :) 
• Turn their blog / journal entries into word clouds
• Predictions: Generate a word cloud before a unit or a story. Have students predict what the story might be about based on the words in the word cloud.  You can project the word cloud using a computer projector and predict as a whole class, or you may wish to use it to create a worksheet where they independently generate their thoughts.

Here is a Tagxedo of my last blog post about the website If It Were My Home.  This Tagxedo is embedded as a weblink,; therefore it is interactive.  The only downside of Tagxedo is that if you do not have Microsoft Silverlight, you will not be able to view the interactive embedded version.  However, you can save images and then use them.  See my next example below.

Below is a Tagxedo of my next newsletter contribution.  This image is saved and can be used in a variety of ways.

Finally, here is an embedded wordle.  You can click on it and it will take your to the wordle website.  Wordles become publically accessible if you do not choose to make them private.  Therefore, if students make them about themselves, ensure that they are private!  This Wordle is of the hand-out from my blogging workshop.

Happy Word Cloud Generating!

N. Keyworth, Grade 7 Teacher, Treasurer for PITA

I love teaching Social Studies and Language Arts, and I love finding new and creative ways to engage students in learning about history and the world.  
Recently, I read about a site called If It Were My Home, and I went directly there.  I was so excited by the content on this site.  It is a Social Studies teacher’s dream comparison site. 

If It Were My Home is a unique site that allows students to read about and consider what their life would have been like if they had been born in another country.  There are over 100 countries to choose from.  This country comparison site allows students to then compare living conditions in their country to other countries around the world.  Once you click on a country, the site instantly provides a lot of great mini facts that statistically compare the two countries, including birth and death rates, electricity and oil consumption, health care, class divide, employment opportunities. 

For Example:

If you compare Canada to China the screen would then read –

If China were your home instead of Canada you would . . .

“Consume 91.o2 % less oil”

“die 6.78 years sooner”

When students click on the mini-fact provided, they get a more detailed description of the comparison fact as well as the original source.  Not only can you compare Canada to other countries in the world, you can also choose to compare two other countries, for example compare Rwanda to Afghanistan.  How are their lives different after comparing Canada to each?

In addition to providing great comparative information, the site also offers, for most countries, an additional reading list with suggested books about the country.   I spent an hour exploring the site the first time I went to it.  The educational uses were swirling.  Here are a few ways I thought it could be implemented into my classroom.

Lesson Ideas:

Social Studies

Students can use this site to help find information on a country study.  They can use it to compare and explore different government structures around the world.  Health care availability can be directly compared.
 
Create a chart of life around the world and pick 6 different countries and have students compare different facts.  They can then use this information to write a report or to do statistical comparisons.

Language Arts (with Social Studies integrated in)

Add a creative writing element and have students write a short story “If I lived in …”  or
Have them pretend they are moving to another country and compare and contrast their current life with their new life.

Math

- Use the statistics provided and graph them, analyze them and so on . . .

Science

Energy consumption comparisons

Usage of renewable and non-renewable resources around the world

The Disaster section – see details below

Finally, I teach Grade 7, but every once and awhile I get the dreaded 6/7 split.  Any split is difficult to teach, so finding a resource that makes it easier is oh so nice!
Last year, I created and began presenting my workshop “From Dynasties to Communism.”  One of the sole purposes of this workshop was to address the Grade 6/7 split in 3 core subject areas – Social Studies, Language Arts, and Science.  One of the Socials activities I included was a simple comparison of life in Canada to life in modern China.  This site will now be added as a recommended destination, and the assignment will be more comprehensive!

This website is an amazing source of easy to use information.  In addition to the county comparison tool, check out the Disaster section.  Here students can see how man-made and natural disasters have affective the lives of millions of people around the world.  Information is provided to help students understand the scope of a disaster in relation to their own country.  This can help students better visualize how disaster affect the lives of others in other parts of the world. 

N. Keyworth, Grade 7 Teacher, Treasurer for PITA