EVERY WORD CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING

Most word clouds work on the premise that the more times a word is used, the larger it appears in the word cloud. So, how and when should you use Word Clouds in the classroom?

1. As a group, use a Word Cloud generator to enter in words students come up with to describe a character or an event. If students repeat words, add them in. The more times you enter a word, the larger the word appears in the word cloud.
2. Students can pick shapes and fill them with adjectives that describe them.
3. Some Word Cloud generators let you add links to some of the words. This could be a great interactive way to share information. Students (individually or in groups) could create a word cloud and display it via a projector/SmartBoard. As they are giving their presentation, they can click on the links to show more information.
4. Use Word Clouds to identify high-frequency words in a piece of writing. Several Word Cloud applications allow students to upload text or paste a URL. Students can use this to identify the main idea of a piece of writing (by seeing which words are used the most). Students can also use this to identify what words, in their own writing, they use repeatedly.

Read the entire E-Tip for HOW-TO and helpful tips by clicking “Download”