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Look Who Saw Our Word Clouds!

Today is my 27th slice for the 
March Slice of Life Challenge on Two Writing Teachers.
Earlier this week I clicked on Lee Ann's blog to make a comment. I noticed she had created a beautiful word cloud! It was made with a site that I hadn't heard of before, Tagul. This site is amazing. I LOVE it! You can sign in with your google account and SAVE your word clouds. The choice of shapes is broad and you can upload a photo and use that for the shape. I decided to use Tagul in school with my sixth graders.

We had been working in book club books for a couple of weeks. Our reading work consisted of following a character and paying attention to his or her traits. In class, I had the groups gather together, review their notes and the books to help them make a word cloud about their book. The results amazed me! Here are a few of them...

 





If you want to see more, stop by our blogs at Crayons and Pencils. The students worked hard on their word clouds and their creativity shined through in their choices. I decided to share some of their word clouds with the authors of the books that they were reading. They ALL responded! Here's what they said...

















Audience is POWERFUL! Students worked hard on their word clouds with no expectations. The assignment was to create the word cloud and post it on their blog. The authors of the BOOKS they are reading saw their work and responded with such kindness! I can't wait to share this with my students today. 
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Comments

  1. shogemMarch 27, 2015 at 5:54 AM

    I will definitely check out Tagul. I have used Wordle before, but this gives the students more choices in their presentations. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 27, 2015 at 5:59 AM

    Michelle...WOW! The power of Twitter and your fabulousness...what a gift to you and your students to receive recognition from the authors themselves! This is why I often say, "authors are my rock stars!!" Thank you so much for sharing this!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lee Ann SpillaneMarch 27, 2015 at 6:56 AM

    Awesome word clouds, Michelle! I love that you tweeted them to the authors and got responses. I bet your students wer so excited. Audience is a powerful motivator indeed i like to use word clouds with chapters or sections of a whole-text too- we use them to make predictions before reading.

    ReplyDelete
  4. elsieMarch 27, 2015 at 9:26 AM

    First off, the word clouds are awesome. But then to have a response from the author! That is over the moon with excitement!

    ReplyDelete
  5. TaraMarch 27, 2015 at 11:30 AM

    Nice! I am going to have to try this!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Leigh Anne EckMarch 27, 2015 at 5:36 PM

    What fun and now thanks to you again, I have another app I need to try.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Linda BMarch 27, 2015 at 7:42 PM

    I love them, Michelle, & that you followed up to give a little love to the authors, who loved you back-awesome. Thanks for the new cloud app too.

    ReplyDelete
  8. JaanaMarch 27, 2015 at 9:39 PM

    What a way to show students the power of communication! I need to try Tagul!

    ReplyDelete

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