Picture in your mind your average high school student’s school binder cover – names of friends, catchy phrases or brands, words of inspiration (ok maybe just on the girl’s binders), and at times, graffiti-esque designs proclaiming the interests, styles and personality of the student who is obliged to carry that binder around school. What was intended as an organizational tool has become an expression of independence and individuality. Allow yourself to be inspired by the creativity of your students, and speak to them in their language – meet them on their turf if you will.

An exciting new find for me just might be a creative way to connect with your students! I came across a great resource online called “Wordle”. As stated on the web page, “Wordle is a toy for generating ‘word clouds’”. A word cloud is an artistically designed group of words, which look strikingly similar to the binder covers we just talked about. Simply go to the Wordle website www.wordle.net, type in or copy and paste the text you want to use, and Wordle will generate an eye-catching word cloud. Click “randomize” to sort through a myriad of design options to meet your need. You can save your image to the public library, or with the image in view, press your “print screen” button, paste in paint, and save as a jpeg file.

Here’s a word cloud I made today just for you!

So how can this fun “toy” be used as an educational tool? The opportunities are endless – but here are two quick ideas:

Have your students create a review page for a test or chapter summary using Wordle. Students can save the image to a flash drive or print and submit for grading. Students will have so much fun playing with Wordle; they may not even realize they are reviewing relevant content!

Create a Wordle “word cloud” at the end of each unit with key terms students should know. Spice up a vocabulary wall by placing one of these images up as you transition to each new subject area, or use in a PowerPoint presentation.

Take a moment to visit this free site and you’ll be hooked. Ask your students how they would like to see you use Wordle in class, and you may get some great ideas!