What's in a Word?

Hargett’s Hints and Technology Tips

We’ve all seen word clouds, maybe made word clouds, but have we actually USED word clouds?  Too often word clouds become part of the fluff when presenting information.  Have you considered using word clouds as a method of formative assessment, presenting students with a word cloud of vocabulary from your new unit, having them circle 3 of the most unfamiliar words or the words that they think they would like to know more about, and then researching them as a beginning activity?  The student could then present his/her findings to the class.  Or maybe the class could use their 3 choices to collaborate and make a new list or word cloud of their own.  You have now narrowed down the vocabulary to the terms they know the least about!  There are endless possibilities.  Well, if not endless, there are at least 108 possibilities in this article I found, 108 Ways to Use Word Clouds in the Classroom ( http://21centuryedtech.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/108-ways-to-use-word-clouds-in-the-classroom-word-clouds-in-education-series-part-2/).
Many of you may be familiar the two of the most common word cloud generators: Wordle.net and Tagxedo.com.  I personally prefer Tagxedo, but a word of caution is in order.  Tagxedo doesn’t work well with iPads.  If you are using Apple products to create a word cloud you should probably stick with Wordle.