What is Wordle?
Wordle is an internet based tool that
creates “word clouds” from text pasted into the tool. The directions say to paste a passage into
the box. The more frequently a word is used, the larger it appears on the Wordle. It could be used as a guessing game where students create a list of key words, put them
into a Wordle and then post their Wordle somewhere where classmates could try
to guess the topic. Wordle can also be used for brainstorming while collaborating on an idea for a project
– add words as many times as they
are suggested by individuals to see which ideas are more popular. Wordle also gives students a chance to be
creative, by selecting the colors and layout schemes. Another use could be to help identify appropriate websites for research projects. Cut and paste the text from a website into
the tool and see how often the topic they are looking for shows up. In her blog, It’s a Mad, Mad Wordle, Carolyn
Foote (2009) suggests using it to
analyze students’ writing, by pasting their papers into Wordle to see how
often different words were used, indicating a possible need to use a
thesaurus. Foote also suggests putting comments from interviews or polls
into Wordle to “see what ideas float to the top as significant” (Foote, 2009).
References:
It’s a
Mad, Mad Wordle. School Library Journal,
07/01/2009. Retrieved from: http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6666671.html)
