Tagxedo. Tagxedo is based on a Microsoft application called SilverLight. If you don t have it, don t worry. Tagxedo will prompt you to download it

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1 TEACh like a TEChie Tagxedo You can make text come alive for students by stepping into the clouds word clouds. Word clouds are visual representations of words, as shown in the illustration. The words can come from a passage of text. They can be key words in a unit of study. They can even be pulled from a website. The different shapes and colors within each word cloud can be used to highlight important ideas or focus on key concepts. You can use word clouds with any content area to introduce, review, or assess understanding. One popular online word cloud tool is called Tagxedo (pronounced as tag-see-doh). The great thing about Tagxedo is that you don t need to register for an account or log in. You simply go to the site, add your own text, and let the tools create your word cloud. Tagxedo even allows you to make word clouds in actual shapes of objects (think cars or animals), or an image you provide. Ready to give it a try? Now What? Tagxedo is based on a Microsoft application called SilverLight. If you don t have it, don t worry. Tagxedo will prompt you to download it 22

2 Seeing is LEARning for free. If you re downloading to your computer at school, you may need a technician to help you with this step because you probably don t have permission to download a program onto your computer. Once that s done, you re ready to proceed. 1. Go to Tagxedo at Click on the blue Start Now button to begin. 2. Take a look at the left-hand side of the screen. Under the heading Words, click on Load. You ll see three choices: You can browse your computer for a document already created; you can paste in the address of a website; or you can type in your own words. 3. Try typing in some words. Here s a tip: The more times you type in a word, the larger it will appear in your finished word cloud. When you re done, click on Submit and the program will create a word cloud for you. Easy! 4. To change the color, font, or layout of your 23

3 TEACh like a TEChie word cloud, look under the Respins heading. Click on the arrows next to each option to play with the format. 5. If you want your cloud to be in the shape of an actual object, look under the Options heading for the Shape feature. Click on the arrow next to the word Shape and then click on the shape you want to use. 6. To insert your own image, click on the Add Image button. Find the folder where you saved your image and double click on it. To upload the image, click on the picture you want and then click the Open button. 7. To save your word cloud, head back up to the Words heading and click on Save. Under the Image heading, choose the size jpeg file you d like to use. A jpeg file means your creation is saved as a picture. The larger the jpeg size you choose, the better the printing quality. 8. You ll be prompted to name your word cloud 24

4 Seeing is LEARning and select a folder to save it in. You re done! Now you can insert that picture into documents or presentations or post it online. Let Me Show You Lesson 1 Introducing Vocabulary Use this organizer as the kick-off lesson for your next unit of study. It takes your K-W-L Chart to a whole new level. 1. Before class, create a word cloud that includes all of the key vocabulary words in your unit of study. Print out the word cloud and make a copy for each student. 2. Begin the lesson by projecting the word cloud for the class to see. (For options on how to do this, see pages 51 and 69.) 3. Hand out copies of the word cloud to students. Partner up the students and ask them to discuss the terms on the word cloud. Tell students to circle the words they know in one color and to use a different color to mark the unfamiliar words. 4. Bring the class back together to discuss the students prior knowledge and concepts they still need to learn. 5. Ask students to refer to the word cloud throughout the unit. Have them make notes on their individual word clouds as they gain understanding of the terms. 6. Here s an optional step. Create a new word cloud featuring the words your students circled as unfamiliar. It s important to key in the words from each student s paper because the more times you type a word, the larger it will appear in the word cloud. 7. When you show students this new word cloud they ll be able to see which terms are the most unfamiliar to the whole class (those words will appear largest). At the end of the unit, show your students this word cloud again. Hopefully, all of the terms will be familiar to them now. It ll be a great way to show them how much they ve learned. 25

5 TEACh like a TEChie 26 Lesson 2 Community Building Tagxedo can be an excellent tool for building a sense of community in a class. Use a computer lab or rotate students among computers available in the classroom. 1. Instruct each student to begin a Tagxedo by typing in his name and two or three adjectives that describe himself. 2. Next, ask students to rotate to the computer to their right. Once they are all seated, explain that their task is to add a word or two that describes the student who s the subject of the Tagxedo at their computer. 3. Writers also may choose to include character traits they appreciate in the person they re describing. 4. It s fine if different students type in some of the same words because when the word cloud is printed, those words will appear larger, indicating the attributes that are most recognized or appreciated. 5. Have students continue to rotate until every student has contributed to every Tagxedo. 6. Print the results and give each student his own personal Tagxedo. Now each student has a reminder of his importance in the classroom and of the traits his classmates appreciate. Lesson 3 Self-Evaluation of Student Writing Here s a great way to engage students in evaluating and improving their own writing. 1. Ask each student to select a piece of writing he d like to analyze for overuse of a particular word or concept. Students will need to type their work into a document and save it as a text file. To save a document as a text file, students click on Save As and then select Text instead of Word. 2. Have students load their writing into Tagxedo. 3. Help them to discover that the size of each word in the cloud is based on how often it appears in the writing. If a student has over-

6 Seeing is LEARning used a word, that word will be much larger than the others in the cloud. 4. Encourage students to edit their work accordingly. Get Real As you can imagine, this is the type of tool that could keep students busy for a long time, playing with shapes and colors. In fact, that s a potential problem. To keep things moving, make sure that before students create their word clouds they already have a plan. It s helpful for them to decide what words they want to use and even the shape they d like to create. My policy is that before students create, they must show me their plan and I have to approve it. This prevents wasted time and poor content. If the object of the lesson is to illustrate a document, make sure to have the document saved in a folder that s easily accessible for students. Also, Tagxedo won t accept a document if it s been saved as a PDF or Word file. In order to insert a document into Tagxedo, you must save the document as a text file. Tagxedo isn t the only word cloud maker. Wordle at is also very popular. It doesn t provide the option to create shaped word clouds, but it s also free and simple to use. Being literate no longer only involves being able to read and write. The literate of the 21st century must be able to download, upload, rip, burn, chat, save, blog, Skype, IM, and share. MULLEN ANd WedWICk (2008) 27