Word Clouds on Chromebooks

A word cloud is an image composed of words in which the size of each word indicates its frequency or importance.  Here is an example of a word cloud:

source: http://tlt.cofc.edu/2011/08/17/improve-writing-and-reading-comprehension-using-word-clouds/

How can word clouds be used in the classroom?

There are many ways a teacher could incorporate word clouds into his/her lessons.  Here are 5 ideas to get you thinking:

1. Get to know students.  Have students create a word cloud about themselves.  Their name could be the largest word (typed the most).  They could add in words that describe themselves, hobbies they have, sports they are in, and/or information about their families.  
2. Revising a paper.  Have students turn a paragraph/paper into a word cloud.  Have them look at this word cloud to see what is the general idea of their paper (the biggest words).  They can also use this to see what words they are using over and over. 
3. End of year review.  Give students 30 seconds or a minute to type everything they remember from class.  Create a word cloud and see if there are common topics strongly remembered by comparing word clouds.
4. Brainstorm what students already know about a topic.  Give students a topic and then type in everything that they already know about it.  The more times an answer comes up, the larger it will be.  
5. Use as a poll.  The more times an answer is typed, the larger the word will appear.  

How do students make word clouds on their Chromebooks?

Here are four tools that students can use on their Chromebooks to create a word cloud.

1. Tagul - Students will need to log-in with their Google Account.  They can choose to make their word clouds a variety of fun shapes and colors.
2. ABC Ya Word Clouds - This one is great for use with younger students.  
3. Word Cloud Generator Google Docs Add-on - This tool works great if your text is already typed in a Google Doc.
4. Word Cloud by Jason Davies  - One of the simplest word cloud creators to use