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FROM the Creator/Owner of WORDLE: "I'm happy to announce that from now on, the Wordle front page will never feature images or links that are inappropriate for classroom use. It's now possible to configure an institution's "site-blocking" software to keep Wordle safe for classroom use." Simply have your networking administrator block the following base URLs1: * http://www.wordle.net/gallery * http://www.wordle.net/next * http://www.wordle.net/random -

Wordle is a great tool for using in the classroom, and this is just another example of how it can be used. I want to point out several aspects of this site- - it uses a wiki as the hosting site (easy to create) - is centered on using a tool called wordle - embeds wordles within the wiki - uses a Google form (go to "Today's Wordle" page) to have people submit information - has created a twitter account to advertise/keep participants up to date with information - has created an RSS for those who want to follow new wordles daily

or the uninitiated Wordle is essentially a word cloud generator that creates word clouds from text you either manually enter or draw from websites, news feeds or utilise tags from a del.icio.us account to create a visually appealing word cloud which you can customise and stylize to suit your needs. The beauty of Wordle is that there is no signup or login and the whole process can be completed in as little as a minute depending on how complex you wish to get.   Here is a Wordle I generated from my website at www.edgalaxy.com

An easy to create activity for use with a smartboard. I like the Guess the Wordle of the Day concept, I like that students try to guess based on contextual clues, and I like that it uses the Smartboard (although it's a relatively low level usage, it's still interactive.)

An easy to create activity for use with a smartboard. I like the Guess the Wordle of the Day concept, I like that students try to guess based on contextual clues, and I like that it uses the Smartboard (although it's a relatively low level usage, it's still interactive.)

What started as a desire to know what technology access my students had turned into a great opportunity to get to know them, and what they thought about grades, learning, and their interests. Here's a copy of the survey that I gave my students this year on the first day. Some of the responses to the questions were interesting enough to put in wordle form

Creates a graphic of words based on several criteria, can be used to create a graphic of vocabulary from a chapter or a graphic of tags from a class delicious account. Not an end all site, but great way for students/teachers to present a list of topics in a unique way during a presentation. I can see using this to help create a word wall activity using the interactive whiteboard.

Some interesting wordle resources. 

Terry Freedman discusses different tools for creating word clouds including wordle, tagxedo, and many eyes. 

Someone has done a nice job of organizing the different tag cloud tools into an online binder of information. Great site for two reasons; the content about tag clouds, and the use of livebinders as the medium. Well organized, and LiveBinders allows you to share easily. 

Tagxedo turns words -- famous speeches, news articles, slogans and themes, even your love letters -- into a visually stunning tag cloud, words individually sized appropriately to highlight the frequencies of occurrence within the body of text.