Word Clouds
The first thing I learned this week was about word clouds. Word clouds are visual representations for text data, typically used to depict keyword tags on websites and to visualize free form text. I had heard of wordle.com before. However, I hadn't had much experience with Tagxedo or ABCya. For my assignment this week I was asked to make a mini lesson using one of these programs. The more I used the sites, the more I enjoyed them. I liked the simplicity of the sites, as well as the variety of layouts and colors you can choose from. The lesson I came up with was a simple lesson that any teacher could use at the beginning of the year. The lesson involves having students come up with a list of adjectives that describe a friend. This list can be turned into a word cloud, and hung up for the class to see and refer to throughout the year. Here is a sample word cloud that I made for this activity using Tagxedo.
I enjoyed using Tagxedo the most because I liked that you could make your word cloud into a variety of shapes. For those of you that have not used Tagxedo before, here is a slideshow that gives you a tutorial on how to use it, and a few ideas on how to use it: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1IvQMR9LpT9sSOEOTIpsCLxYpfuPrKZrL3_JZ651HTho/edit#slide=id.i0. .
Prezi
Prezi is an tool for web-based presentations, similar to Powerpoint. Prezi take a little bit of time to get used to, as it can be a little harder to use if you are used to Powerpoint. This video gives a tutorial on how to use Prezi.
Here is a link to the Prezi that I made this week for a kindergarten unit on 3-D shapes:
In my opinion, Prezi is a much more engaging way to present information, rather than Powerpoint. I liked that when you create a Prezi it is all on one canvas, rather than individual slides. I think this gives the reader a good visual of what they will be learning about upfront, rather than individual slides.
Glogster
Glogster is a tool that I had not heard of before. Glogs are online, multimedia posters. Students and teachers can make online posters that include text, photos, videos, graphics, sounds , drawings, etc. Since I am the Elementary Technology Specialist at my school, I was pleasantly surprised to experiment with a site that I haven't heard of before. I had high hopes for Glogster when I watched a tutorial video on it. You can watch the tutorial here:
The first thing that turned me off about Glogster was the pricing. I was able to try it out using a 30 day trial. However, after the 30 days is up you have to sign up for a $39 subscription (elementary) or a $95 subscription (secondary). Now, if my school district purchased this, I think I would be more apt to do it. I just didn't see myself using this site very often enough to pay for a subscription on my own. I also think I would be more apt to use the site if I taught in an older grade that my students could create glogs on their own. The site was fairly easy use, and I saw some pretty neat ideas on how to use it here.
Out of all of these tools, I can see myself using word clouds the most. I found this tool to be the most simple for the grade level I teach, while still being visually appealing.
Have you tried out these tools before? What ways have you used it with your students?
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