word-clouds

toc =Word Clouds =

Word clouds, also known as "tag clouds" are words that most frequently used in a search field. The size of the words in the cloud depends on the word's frequency of the text inputted.

These websites are the ones that we like to use the most.

Wordle
Create word clouds, by customizing color, changing fonts, and text direction.

** Pros **
 * No accounts needed
 * Easy to use
 * Can easily change font
 * Customize colors
 * Different text direction

**Cons**
 * Can't save a Wordle unless to the gallery, otherwise you can only print it or take a screen shot
 * Can't add pictures to accompany the text
 * No moderation in the gallery


 * Classroom Ideas **
 * Use famous speeches or poetry to determine themes
 * A activity for students to get to know each other
 * Create a cloud and have the students pick out words that do not belong
 * Introduce a new theme or project
 * Use it to figure out the meaning of a word by using synonyms
 * Create a cloud about a famous person or a character study using describing words



media type="file" key="wordle-3.1.10.swf" width="711" height="338"

WordShift
Create your own word clouds by selecting the text and adding images. Also find the meaning of a word through a built in thesaurus. ** Pros **
 * No accounts needed
 * Easy to use
 * Has a workspace to add words from the generate word cloud to create your own
 * Easily add images or videos with a built in Google image search
 * Built in thesaurus
 * Easily find selected text from the source
 * Built in curriculum language finder

**Cons**
 * Can not change font
 * Can not customize colors
 * Can't save, you can only print it or take a screen shot
 * No gallery to view examples or save to

**Classroom Ideas**
 * Assign text to identify challenging words or concepts prior to a lesson
 * Preview text by identifying key vocabulary, playing with the images, and to use the example source sentence feature to “skim” the text
 * Create a teacher cloud, and then have the students create select the words they think are important and add images
 * Take the Visual Thesaurus display of a word web and have students identify and discuss related words
 * Use is to skim text to find key words and their source in the text
 * Have students talk about which picture is the best representation of a given word



media type="file" key="wordsift1-3.3.10.swf" width="690" height="323"

media type="file" key="wordsift2-3.12.10.swf" width="690" height="303"