January 18

Word Up!

Wordle is a neat way to display a student’s writing in a different way. It may not be a paragraph or have any punctuation, in fact it may not even have a sentence. It will be filled with many, many words.

What it will be is text presented in an artistic way.  The text can be adjusted by color pallete, layout and font. Once the words are placed in the window, they can be adjusted as many times as you want. The size of the word depends on the use of it. Looking at the Declaration of Independence below, government is the largest word because it has been used the most. The smaller words are used less frequently. If you were to type the words in yourself, you would type one word several more times than other words to make sure it was larger.

Another example that is similar to Wordle is Tagxedo. Tagxedo offers the same features as Wordle. It also allows the creator to select from various shapes, which will enhance the presentation of the text. Once created, if you roll over the words they become hyperlinks. Clicking on them will take you to a website where you will find more information. (This feature is only available while in the site. Once it is saved as an image, you cannot click on the words.) Below is the same text as above, The Declaration of Independence, but presented in a shape.

 

How can you use this in the classroom:

  • create list of traits about a character
  • description of vocabulary word
  • words used in a Science or Social Studies unit
  • synonyms or antonyms
  • historical documents
  • back to school activity
  • book reviews

 

 

 

 

Category: interactive white boards, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies | LEAVE A COMMENT
December 5

Writer’s Block No More

Writing is a skill that people will always need, whether it is on traditional paper, emails or blogs. The challenge is knowing the topic and not knowing what to type or how to start. The dreaded writers block has haunted all of us.
What is the one way to help our kids, or us, from getting over the block?

There is now a website that helps with this. One Word will give you one word. Just below the word, is a text window where you have 60 seconds to type whatever you can about that topic. Below the text window is a timer. As time goes on, the timer fills up with a soft pink color. The final seconds do have a beeper to let you know to finish your thoughts.

When complete, the site asks you to fill in your name and email. After this you will have access what others have written.

How can this be used in the classroom? Using the computers in the lab or on a mobile lab, have the students type about the topic for 60 seconds. The site can also be projected on the interactive white board and the students can write their ideas on their own sheet of paper.

Category: interactive white boards, Language Arts | LEAVE A COMMENT
November 21

Composing online

Do you need ideas for your students to compose online? Sure, you can open up a blank document and give them a topic to type-but what if you make it a bit more exciting the same ol’ thing?

With the holidays approaching, ask your students to write a postcard to your family from the perspective of an object. For example, ask them to write it from the mind of a turkey, pumpkin or cranberry. Other options could include the football, football helmet, chair, table or floor. Talk to the students and see what else they can come up with.

To complete this exercise, open up Publisher and select Postcard. Select one of the many templates if you want to keep it uniform or have the students choose their own. Explain where to add the text, how to add a picture and how to fill in the address section. (Remind them that this isn’t going to be mailed and they can create their own address.)

Category: Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 14

Paint a Picture in my Mind

Johnny comes up to your desk and has written sentences. They all have proper sentence structure, but they don’t paint a picture in the mind of the reader. You explain to Johnny that he should add more colorful and descriptive words. It all sounds good, but what if you had a website to show what it would look like.
Now there is one…


Telescopic Text is a great site. Using the image above, the sentence starts with three words. On the web-site, you can click on a word to expand the sentence. The example above shows one sentence and how it has expanded from three words to seven words. The original sentence has now been developed into a more descriptive sentence.
When using this with your class, you will need to create an account and all students will use it. Their sentences can
be saved here. To get started, click on telescopictext.org in the bottom right hand corner of the page. The next page contains a paragraph with underlined words. When you click on one of the underlined words, you will receive directions on how to use the site.

Category: Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT