Word Clouds

For this assignment we went to the website Wordle and made a word cloud.  We were asked to turn a famous speech into a word cloud.  I immediately thought the typical presidential speeches but then I decided to choose something that represents me in way.  I have heard many funny yet inspiring speeches from Conan O'Brian and Oprah Winfrey.  Then I remembered I am a huge Apple/Mac fan and decided to use Steve Jobs Commencement Speech.  I was definitely not there personally, but the beauty of the world wide web makes it accessible to anyone just by typing it in your web search.

Here is my wordle:

Here is the link to his speech:

Steve Jobs Speech

In case that doesn't work:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/stevejobsstanfordcommencement.htm

If you would like to watch it:

I have been using Wordle in my classroom for the past 2 years.  It started when our Talented and Gifted Teacher introduced it to me as an idea for a writing activity with my 3rd graders.  I immediately put it to use.  Sad but true, cursive is no longer mandated in the state of Ohio but typing is.  So I took this website as a fun way to get kids excited about keyboarding.  There assignment was to make a list of things they were thankful for and then to type in the words and pick their design.  They loved it and the school loved reading all the colorful word clouds in the hallway.  I also use it every year for my principal.  She requests us to make a class mission statement.  I let the students compile a list of words that represent us, 3rd grade, and education.  From that, I typed it into wordle, printed it out, had the kids sign it and put it on our mission statement bulletin board for the school to see and read.

ISTE NETS T Standards

customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.


While using it in my classroom I found that some students could and would spend up to a 1/2 an hour just trying to figure out the best layout for them.  Some even learned how to personalize their own rather than just hitting the "randomize" button.  Which connects it to the "customize and personalize" learning activities because they really could personalize it any way they want to.  It also allows the higher level thinkers to make longer lists or use a thesaurus to come up with synonyms.