"Wordle.net is a site used for generating 'word clouds' from text that you provide.  The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.  You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.  The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like."

Wordle is extremely easy to use, even for the most novice computer user.  And the end results are quite striking.

See the attached document below for step by step directions. (UPDATED)

 

Some instructional uses for Wordle include:

1. Brainstorming – Give students a topic and instruct them to generate a list of related words.  For instance, students could create a Wordle about themselves for a beginning of the year activity.  An end-of-a-novel Wordle would help assess a student's connection to the text.  Any topic or any unit of study works for a Wordle!  Other brainstorming ideas: a Wordle of adjectives, a Wordle of weather terms, a Wordle of words that start with C.

2. Summarization – Because the Wordle program bases word size on frequency, it serves as a great summarization tool.  Students can copy and paste portions of text to better understand the main ideas presented.  For example, coping and pasting Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech into the word box would highlight terms such as "freedom", "together", "nation", and "justice".  Perfect for all pieces of literature.  What a great room decoration!  Other summarization ideas: a Wordle of a textbook chapter, a Wordle of a student's class notes, a Wordle of a quote.

3. Writing Skills – Again, because the most used words appear larger than the others do, Wordle can teach a great lesson in revision strategies.  Have student copy and paste their essay from a Word document into the Wordle program.  The most frequently used words will standout.  Have the student find their three largest words (i.e. "I", "very", and "good"), then go back through their essay, attempting to reduce their usage.  Sometimes a visual look at their word choice is all it takes to bring the point home!

The possibilities are truly endlesss!