Wordle is the Word

The visual power of words:

Wordle is a cool little tool that makes word clouds from writing or web pages ‘fed’ to it. It is a great way to discover a focus in any piece of writing. The words used most often are larger so it is easy to determine which words, ideas and concepts are important. My blog wordle:

Wordle Analysis:

Analysing text via word clouds might be a useful tool for students compiling a resume, essay or poetry. It instantly reveals central points and might also show overused words that can make writing dull and flat.

I was happy to see that my ‘Learning Gems’ blog focuses on ‘learning’ and ‘students’ but surprised to see how often I’d mentioned Ning. I must enjoy the collaborative and social nature of learning a lot without realising it!

Wordle poetry

Wordle also lends itself to the quick easy creation of visually appealing poetry and other creative writing. My wordle poem on spring captures many of my thoughts on my favourite season:

Online Children’s Books

I am still exploring the web looking for ideas to help with my Book Week Literacy project, a story book using the prompt “Imagine if I discovered…” In my travels I found Big Universe Online Children’s Books and created a small story using the prompt myself. The book was easy to construct using illustrations provided on site although I did have to watch the demo first. It was approved for online publishing in a few hours. I decided that Big Universe has huge ‘learning gem’ potential. I can imagine teachers and parents using it as a literature and writing learning tool. Hopefully, it will also help me to create some excitement for my Book Week project!

The books are free to create and read online.

Imagine if I discovered…

One of the projects I am working on for this year’s Book Week is a literacy project which will involve our primary school students in the writing, publication and launch of a school story book built around the prompt ‘Imagine if I discovered…” The aim will be for each student to contribute to the publication by responding individually to the topic. Each student will be allocated one page in the book.

Of course this is a major endeavour and today I have been searching the web for ideas and inspiration. I am always looking for imaginative ways to motivate students to write and think creatively and I was particularly looking for visual strategies to act as ‘warm up’ exercises. I stumbled across Toondoo and started to fiddle…

This site has huge potential as a creative writing and planning tool that is both fun and simple to use.