In Kate Messner’s book, 59 Reasons to Write, Lesson 49 is called, “Wordle: What Am I Writing About? …Here’s a way that might help you figure out what you’re writing about…”
Last Spring I wrote an article about the Maker Faire put on at my school. I copied the words from that article into 3 different word cloud generators and got these results.
- Using this word cloud generator, I got this:
2. Using abcya.com, I got this:
3. And this one using WordItOut…
Seeing the BIG ideas in a word cluster is fun and enlightening! I knew my article was about the Maker Faire we had at school last year. But the word clouds helped me to see other words – choose, think, reaction, time, teacher, students, problem-solving, brave, try. These clouds help me to see all the details of a great hands-on project.
What is YOUR writing about today?
Maybe you know.
Maybe you aren’t sure.
Try using a word cloud to literally SEE all the BIG ideas!
Note: This year, my fourth, my goal is to work on my writing each day using lessons from three books. My list of ideas is here on this padlet. Take a peek if you need inspiration!
Writing Stories by Sally 
Word clouds are brilliant tools to get kids to see big ideas. Wouldn’t it be cool to do word clouds with reading as well? Glad to see you here!
LikeLiked by 1 person
maybe i am confused on what these are, but how are you getting these? i like them a lot! is there a website on how you can make these?
LikeLike
Simply return to my blog and I make the words after #1, #2, and #3 hyperlinks so when you click on them, it will take you to the website. All you need is some text to paste into their site. Then the site does all the magic! Once generated, I simply took a screen shot of it so I could include it on my blog. Play around – it’s fun!! I actually liked http://www.abcya/wordcloud the best (#2).
LikeLiked by 2 people
Awesome ! Thank you ! Sounds great !
LikeLike
Yay!! I’m so glad you’re here. We used your padlet in class yesterday for inspiration! Thank you!!! Love the idea of using those books to inspire your writing this month. I can’t wait to see what it inspires!
LikeLike
WOW!! That makes me so happy! Keep me posted on your writers. And maybe we can meet at the Leesburg Panera again soon! I’ll check my calendar!
LikeLiked by 1 person
YES! Sally, let’s plan that!
LikeLike
Thanks for helping to give us ideas about topics. I am really struggling but have a theme to work on each day! These word clouds are beautiful and i like the way it brings pout the main words,
LikeLike
I do love Word Clouds but wonder about what they really show … often, it is just words as art. I have asked my students to put writing into word cloud generators, to see which words are overused and to notice trends in their writing.
Kevin
LikeLike
This is an awesome idea! I am doing informational writing with my third graders and today we are going to do Alphaboxes. I can see us taking our words from the Alphaboxes into a Wordle. Happy first day of Slicing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome idea! Think I will try this with some of my recent posts 🙂
LikeLike
I hate to admit this, but I have never done a word cloud! These turned out great! I love your Padlet – a great collection of ideas and inspiration! Happy writing!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are right, a great way to see the big ideas! I knew a teacher who used it to gift each student a wordle of their report card narrative:) We looked at your Padlet in class again this morning!
LikeLike
The report card idea is so interested!! I may try that! So glad YOU taught me padlet!! The kids are posting to one I made for March Book Madness. Feel free to see what we are thinking should win a bracket! https://padlet.com/sally_donnelly/MarchBookMadness
(and so glad you taught me that too!)
Any interest in submitting to a conference together to present on using technology in reading and writing workshop?? Then we could meet in person!!
And I am so happy they like my padlet. I plan to share YOURS today with them!!
LikeLike
Keep sharing suggestions Sally. Love this one to start us off.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have not used Wordle in quite a while so thanks for the reminder about this useful tool. And thanks also for the ideas you posted on Padlet. I have that post bookmarked for inspiration. Happy writing this month!
LikeLike
This is a great idea, especially for those of us who are new slicers! Thank you for sharing this!
LikeLike
What a great idea. This would work great with kids so they can see the items that stand out in their writing. Thanks for sharing. I think I’ll give this a try.
LikeLike
Sally, I have been under the weather lately and did not want to stay up last night but I, like you, wanted to get my post up. Word Clouds are visually masterpieces of divergent thinking all done for us. I love to use them. My newest craze is going to Tagul. Give this one a try. I am sure your students will love it.
LikeLike
Book marking article for future reference. I’ve used basic Wordle a lot — I’m looking forward to trying out the other two. Word clouds are great for writing self-analysis and identifying “pet words.” Type in a blog or article url for diy word use and theme analysis too. This also helps students learn how to look at and analyze their own writing.
LikeLike
As always, Sally, you are there at the starting gate, and teaching us how to have fun using more technology in conjunction with our writing! Appreciate this, and I look forward to more.
LikeLike
I love using word clouds – and so do my students!
LikeLike
Can you share some specifics that your students have used them for?
LikeLike
Such a creative way to make writing grow!! Thank you for the idea and so much more. I can’t wait to see what you choose through out the month !
LikeLike
This is such a great idea, Sally! I can’t wait to try it. By the way, I want to come to lunch with you and Michelle the next time I’m in Virginia!
LikeLike
YES!!! I forgot you have a reason to visit VA. Let us know when your next visit is. Also are you going to the the Saturday Reunion?
I am and applied to August Writing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Brian & Jackie are buying a house in Aldie at the end of the month, so I think we’ll be down sometime in April. I will be at the reunion, so we’ll have to meet up.
LikeLike
I love word clouds!
LikeLike
I’ve never used word clouds before. Thanks for sharing the hyperlinks. A word cloud would be a great activity to do at the end of a unit, as a whole class, with my Kinders.
LikeLike