SS+Word+Clouds


 * Social Studies & Word Cloud Creators **


 * Links to Popular Sites:**
 * **Word Sift:** http://www.wordsift.com
 * **Wordle:** http://www.wordle.net
 * **Tagxedo:** http://www.tagxedo.com

** Description: **These three tools all create word clouds but each has unique features depending on what you are looking to accomplish with the tool. Accounts are not needed for any of these tools. Here are the key features of each: **Follow the steps at each web site to create a word cloud.** You will be taken through the steps to create a word cloud at each of the sites. Here is a text document to save some time that we can use as a sample:
 * **Word Sift:** this site is a bit of a "mash up" because the site creates a word cloud but also provides a work space where the user can move words to create their own word cloud, include images, uses a visual thesaurus, etc.
 * **Wordle:** This is a favorite of teachers--the more times a word is typed the larger it appears in the word cloud. Users can manipulate the color, format, font, layout, etc.
 * **Tagxedo:** Tagxedo is a bit more complex with more options but teachers like the ability to put the word cloud into a specific shape or in the shape of an uploaded image.
 * Documents to use for text to copy and paste:http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html

**Examples of different kinds of Wordles** **:**

** __Ideas for using Wordle in the classroom for Social Studies:__ ** 1. Putting famous speeches in a Worldle, instead of reading the whole thing. For example you could put Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream speech into a Worlde so your students can see his main ideas without actually having to read the whole thing.This would work well for kids that will not be able to comprehend the speech because the text is to difficult or for special needs students who will not be able to read the whole thing. 2. You could have your students write a report about a famous person using a Wordle to go along with their report. They would just upload their report into the website and create a Wordle based on their report. You could then display them in the classroom and see if your students can guess who the Wordle is about. Also for special needs students and students who need a supplementary assignment, you could have them come up with a list of things about a person they research and create a Wordle about them. Example: here is one about President Lincoln. 3. For the beginning of a History lesson you can create a wordle outlining your lesson. This could work to asses your students background knowledge and also serve as an outline to fallow during the lesson. This will be especially helpful for your visual learners. Example: here is a Wordle on Thanksgiving. 4. When you have your students read a narrative book such a Huck Finn you can have them create a wordle for each chapter as a summery. This is a way for checking for understanding of the reading form each student. Also after reading the book you can use the chapter summaries for further instruction and extensions. __**More Resources on how to use Wordle in the classroom:**__ [] [] [] []