More Fun With Wordle - Submissions Needed!

Wordle.net is place where users can create free, eye-catching word clouds. On Feb. 11, I wrote about how word clouds could be used as a literacy aid. I'd love to hear your ideas on how Wordle could be used in the classroom!

I recently introduced Literacy Log to a class full of future ESL teachers, and word clouds seemed to generate the most excitement. I thought it might be a good idea to feature them once again. So, here are some word clouds depicting documents in a few different languages.

Literacy Log officially guarantees that you will enjoy playing around on Wordle. Send me a link you your creation and I'll feature it here!

• A speech by Eva Peron on May 4, 1950. (Original Document)
  

• The Beginning of Voltaire's "Candide." (Original Document)

• Chapter 1 of Marx's "Communist Manifesto." (Original Document)
  

• Story about a bombing (I think) on Al Jazeera. (Original Document)
  

• The Gettysburg Address (Original Document)
  

• All of Literacy Log's February Content (Original Document)
  

4/5/09 Update: Wade Roush at Xconomy interviews the creator of Wordle, John Feinberg.

...you get not only a picture of the relative frequency of words but you can get happy random juxtapositions of words that are conducive to associative thinking. It's generating ideas about something that otherwise wouldn't have occured to you. It's like a data toy. -John Feinberg


Brenda Dyck at Education World writes about potential classroom uses for Wordle. Highly recommended!

Web Resource: Word Clouds

A word cloud is a visual depiction of the main words and ideas of a text. Word clouds evolved from Tag Clouds, which are commonly used to depict the content of websites.

Wordle.net is a free (and addictive) way to create Word Clouds. A teacher or student simply needs to copy and paste text, select font and display preferences, and Wordle generates a word cloud. Here are some examples:

• The Declaration of Independence
• NCSS's National Standards for Social Studies Teachers
• This blog entry

This fantastic interactive page from The New York Times uses world clouds to guide readers through every inaugural address by a U.S. President.

Word clouds are no substitute for the actual reading of a text, but they can provide a powerful visual preview of text and aid students in making predictions and forming questions.