Educational Value of Wordle

Wordle helps students organize their brainstorm ideas.  For example, it can be used to begin an art lesson.  What do you know about "architecture"? Students can then brainstorm words that they draw from their background knowledge to describe architecture.  Repeating words would be encouraged because wordle will make them larger to show their added importance.  They can see those words arranged in different colors and compositions.  They have an opportunity to be creative and choose the composition and colors that they prefer.  After the unit on architecture is complete students can create a new wordle and see how their vocabulary has grown.  In my art classroom we keep a word wall of all the vocabulary we discuss during the school year.  Making a wordle for the various topics would be a great culminating project for the students to organize words that are related.  For example, do the words all have to do with creating with clay or papermaking.  I also saw an idea where instead of presenting an report or making a presentation the student would write a paragraph and then insert it into wordle. This would create a succinct set of words that are related to a topic that is visually exciting and is engaging to students. It can also be helpful in presenting an oral report where the student uses the wordle to stay on topic. The 21st century skills that are reinforced in wordle are: active learning, communicating, making connections, creating, and expressing oneself.  This is a good use of technology that enhances learning for students.