Idea #2 - Word Clouds

Today's idea uses the projector and your computer connection.  Word clouds are a visual representation of the chosen text.

The more often a word appears in a text, the larger the word will appear in the cloud. Word clouds also fit in nicely with Marzano's "Nonlinguistic Representation" being a strategy that works in classrooms instruction.

Resources:

There are 2 internet sites that make word cloud creation very simple:

Wordle:  http://www.wordle.net/ - Creates freeform clouds and can be printed, saved to a public gallery, or you can take a screen shot of the image to use in classes later.

Tagxedo - http://www.tagxedo.com/app.html - creates word clouds in different shapes, colors, fonts, etc.  You can create straight from a websites, copy and paste text from any source, or type original text into the creator.  Results are interactive and can be saved as a jpeg or png file.

Ways to use this in your classroom:

1. Introduce:
   
   
   
   • Vocabulary - enter in the vocabulary for a unit and display for students to discuss what they know, what they don't know, etc.
   
   
   • People -   Take a biography of a famous person and have the student make inferences about what kind of person this is and what important things did they do?  Or have student write about themselves and turn it into a wordle as a way to learn more about them.
   
   
   • Unit/ Syllabus - make it more interesting - ask what do you think you are going to learn about in this unit
   
   
   
   


2. Analyze:
   
   
   
   • Author's Diction - Take a passage from the reading and have students analyze word choice before reading the passage.
   
   
   • A Reading Passage:  Based on the word cloud have students:
     
     
     
     • predict main ideas
     
     
     • write a title for the passage
     
     
     • identify vocabulary that is unfamiliar
     
     
     
     
   
   
   • Survey Data - copy and paste survey data in to see what the reoccurring ideas are.
   
   
   • Lyrics of a song
   
   
   • Current Events
   
   
   
   


3. Create:
   
   
   
   • Poster of class rules or school expectations as a way to review
   
   
   • Character Map - as a class brainstorm words that describe a character (or historical figure) and create a word cloud for that person.  You can do the same for additional characters and ask  why do we have more information about one character over another.
   
   
   • A Word Cloud Word Wall - enter in the vocabulary term multiple times to make it larger and then the definition - print to place on the wall.
   
   
   • Poster from an Essay
   
   
   
   


4. Summarize a Famous Speech - what ideas are important


5. Generate Ideas for Research - take an article about a topic and create a word cloud.  From that word cloud have students generate research ideas for further study.


6. Compare and Contrast - 2 word clouds from two different passages or different points of view


7. Writing Prompt: Have students being to write based on the word cloud.  Clouds could be based on vocabulary from the unit, a passage, a poem, etc.


8. Guided Reading: Take 2 sections from a text and create a word cloud.  Have students decide what passage comes first and why.

Tutorials:

For more information and ideas about word clouds in the classroom check out:

• http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/07/more-wordle-in-classroom-ideas.html


• http://peterpappas.blogs.com/copy_paste/2009/01/build-literacy-skills-with-wordle.html


• http://thecleversheep.blogspot.com/2008/10/top-20-uses-for-wordle.html


• http://www.angelamaiers.com/2008/11/wordle-in-the-c.html

Idea #1 - Teach Students How to Read the Textbook

With the addition of document cameras and ceiling mounted projectors in the classroom, the challenge is learning to use this new technology to it's fullest.   This is the first in a series to offer teachers ideas:

Idea #1:  Teach Students How to Read the Textbook

Students do not automatically know how to read any given  textbook.  Each book is different with it's own structure and style.  Using a document camera and a projector, teachers can teach students to analyze the structure of their textbooks so that they can better comprehend what they are reading.

Students who have more knowledge of text structure learn more from expository material that students who are not aware of text structure.

The document camera makes it easy by allowing the teacher to project the textbook onto the screen for all to see, instead of having to hold up the book and hope students are looking at the same place they are.

The video walks you through the basics of teaching students to evaluate the structure of a textbook and to identify the resources provided.



For more information on teaching students how to read a textbook see:

• http://www.addchoices.com/reading_text.htm


• http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/25816.aspx

YouTube Video Tools for Teachers

Here are a few video tools for YouTube  all teachers should know about:

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/

TubeChop - http://www.tubechop.com/ - Ever had a video on Youtube that you only wanted to show part of?  This website helps with that.

1. Find a YouTube Video you want to clip


2. Copy the URL - and go to http://www.tubechop.com/


3. Paste in the url into the provided box on the webpage


4. Select video and choose "Chop It."


5. Choose the portion of the video you want to keep by dragging the markers on the beginning and end of the clip and click on "Chop It"


6. The website then provide you with a link to your chopped video as well as an embed code to place that clip on a webpage.

Kick You Tube - - Download YouTube videos for future use.       You have options on what format you want to save the video and downloaded videos can be stored on Thumb drives or DVD's for access when the network is down or you don't want to rely on streaming.  Basically you type in the work "kick" in the url before"youtube" and follow the instructions.

A great tutorial on how to do this can be found at Tammy Worcester Tip of the Week.

YouTube to Mp3 Converter - http://www.video2mp3.net/ - convert video clips into mp3 clips.  Good when looking for sound bites for instruction.

Wallwisher in the Classroom

I started to title this blog post - A New Way to Brainstorm - but then I realized that Wall Wisher offers so much more than that.

Wallwisher is a free internet application that allows you to build a wall that then you or you and others can post notes on.   To build a wall you will need to log in with an email account but an email account is not needed to post notes on that wall.  Good news for those of us working with students under the age of 14.    Privacy levels can be set for each wall and posts can be moderated.

Once a wall is built there are a number of ways to distribute or share your wall.  Walls can be embedded into a webpage, blog or wiki.  You can link directly to the wall for users to go straight there.  It also provides an RSS feed so walls can be monitored through your RSS readers, such as iGoogle.

As I started looking for how others were using this tool I found the ideas fit into a few categories.  (This was easy to do as I took the ideas that were posted on the wall and started moving them around to create the groups!)

• Brainstorming/ Idea Gathering


• Homepages - a place to gather resources, post announcements, leave messages, provide homework help, etc.


• Skill building - note-taking, vocabulary, sorting and summarization work wonderfully on this.


• Portfolios of Student Work - either as a class or an individual.

I created a wall with all the ideas of classroom use I have found by searching the web and have embedded the wall below.  Please feel free to add to it!

Get Started:

The best way to learn to use this tool is to jump in and get started!

Go to my wallwisher sandbox and make your first post: http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/RobinySandbox

Or go to: http://www.wallwisher.com - log in and build your first wall.

Please share your ideas for wallwisher or the walls you build!

Glogster - Create an Interactive Poster

Making a poster, creating a model, or drawing a picture all help increase activity in the brain by having students take information in one form and transform it into another. Classroom Instruction that Works indicates that using nonlinguistic representations achieved a 27 percentile gain  As a history teacher I also found those assignments more enjoyable to grade than essays where they students copied information from books and online resources without ever thinking about what they were writing.

So how to make use of this technique using technology?  One way is Glogster.

What is Glogster EDU?

Glogster EDU is the educational version of the Glogster site.  Teachers and students can design interactive posters that incorporate artwork, videos, music, links to other websites, wordles, etc.

Sample Math Glog:

Teachers are given 100 free student accounts to allow students to create their own glogs under the teacher's account.  User names and passwords are automatically generated and sent to the teacher's account.

Finished products can be embedded into wikis, webpages, or teacherweb sites using the provided html embed code.  You can also link to the glog itself.

The site provides background templates and frames to get you started in all sorts of themes.

See this glog on Glogster EDU for more info: http://thilby.edu.glogster.com/glogsteredu/

(Warning - make sure you are using the EDU version for your students.  Glogs found on the original site may not be suitable for all audiences.)

Getting Started:

If you are ready to try this resource out, go to http://edu.glogster.com/register/ and register for an account.

For a step by step tutorial check out - Glogster Tutorial Page - by Traci Blazosky

Uses in the Classroom:

• Create a glog as the homepage for a class project with all the info.


• Using a projector use the glog as a the home base for your lesson or discussion in class.


• replace traditional poster board projects with a glog


• group images together to set the tone for a historical unit or a novel's setting


• gather all the notes together for a math concept so the formulas and examples are all in one place.


• Create a glog to replace a research paper. (If they are copying all the info from online anyway - why not show them how to link to those sources and write a summary that introduces the link?)

Sample Glog for To Kill a Mockingbird:

Resources:

• Hooked on Glogster by Brenda Dyck

Animoto - Hook Your Class!

How do you get your student's attention? We used to call this the anticipatory set, the hook or now the popular term is the engagement piece.

Consider showing this video to introduce a unit on Sharecropping and Cotton Production in Texas:


Set the stage by asking students to describe the images and the faces.  How are the the same or different from their lives today?  What assumptions can you make about life during that time?

Images are powerful.  In our digital age students are used to seeing the images to help them identify and connect with the events being talked about.  Think about how fast images can be broadcast about any event that is occuring.

How to Make Videos:

Animoto helps present those images in a way that is easy and interesting to your students.

Animoto is a web tool that allows users to create videos using your own images, video clips (up to 10 seconds) and music.  You can also choose from their collection of music that includes tracks from popular artists.  Animoto then analyzes the media you have chosen to create a custom video.  Transitions and videos are adjusted to fit the music chosen.

Finished videos can be played from the website, embedded into other webpages (think wikis, blogs and teacherWeb),  emailed out or uploaded to YouTube.

The best part is that now Animoto is providing unlimited access to educators. This means you can create unlimited videos with various lengths and your students can too.

To create your own Animoto Account for Educators go to: http://animoto.com/education

How can You Use these Videos in Class:

• Commercials for upcoming Events


• Book Trailers


• Videos of Class Field Trips


• Summarize a Class Project


• Interpret a Topic you are studying with images.

Remember these videos could be student created or teacher created.

Other Examples:

Avatars - Your Virtual Self

Creating avatars in education can help get the creative juices flowing and create safe images to post of the students online.    Here is a list of ideas for using avatars in classrooms:

• Create book trailers with the avatars representing the characters


• Teachers can put their avatar in their powerpoints to get the kids attention.


• Create a new character and create a story about it. (Great for the Build Your Wild Self website)


• Write instructions on how to create a character - swap descriptions to see if they can recreate it


• recreate characters from the novel.  What do you picture that they look like.


• All about Mii poems with picture of the avatar attached


• Use the avatar to represent the student online.


• Put the avatars in famous places and points in history.  Have student write about the place and or event from a first person point of view.

Here are three kid-safe resources for creating avatars:

Mii Avatars

If you are a Wii user you have created a Mii before, the avatar that represents you in playing the games.  There is online option to create Miis that can be saved as jpgs or png files. Export the avatar as a transparent png file and put yourself in famous places. by placing the Mii on top of a photograph.  I've used PowerPoint for this since you can group the two images and then save the group as a picture file.

Create your own Mii - http://www.myavatareditor.com/

Directions to create famous Miis:  http://www.miicharacters.com/

Lego Avatars:

Mini-Mizer -

Allows users to create a Lego Avatar complete with accessories custom and backgrounds.  To save the creation you have to do a Print Screen and then paste into another application like PowerPoint to crop the image and save it as an image file.

http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mm2/mini2.swf

Become an Animal

Build Your Wild Self - Start off designing yourself as a human then you can add animal parts and set a background.  Final Products can be printed with information about the creature you created and a name for your creature.  Another option is to save a version as a desktop backgrounds.  You can right click on the print version and save the image as well as doing the print screen option as with the Lego character.



This was really my favorite one as the art work is beautiful and the ties into science are amazing.  One idea:  Have students create a creature for their habitat and explain how that creature lives.

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I'll be adding to my avatar resources at: http://www.diigo.com/user/robiny/avatars

Any other ideas for using avatars in class?