Wordle

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__Overview__
Wordle is a great web-based tool that creates a visual representation of a given text. Words that have a higher frequency in the text are given more prominent positions in a larger font in the Wordle.


 * Here is an example of a Wordle that was created using the text from FDR's December 8th, 1941 "Day of Infamy" speech following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor: **

**What words are the most prominent in this Wordle?** It appears that in FDR's speech the words Japanese, American, attacked, forces, United, and States appeared the most frequently. Just based on seeing those 6 words we have an idea of what the speech was about. This Wordle could easily be used as a pre-reading activity to help figure our a main idea before reading the text of the speech. That is just one use of Wordle...

** Uses of Wordle **
Wordle can be used by students as a **//pre-reading or after reading strategy//** to help identify main ideas and key terms in a text. 1.Students can use Wordle as a previewing activity as mentioned above and then make predictions based off of what they see in the Wordle. 2.After marking up a text and/or taking notes on a text and summarizing, students can use a Wordle as a comparison point with their notes to make sure they did indeed capture the most important ideas and key terms. 3.Wordle is also a valuable resource for students to evaluate their own work. Students can create a writing piece and then plug it into a Wordle in order confirm that they dealt with the most important words and topics as much as they would have liked. 4. Wordle can we used creatively without a premade text. Students can create a Wordle by simply listing words, repeating words that they want to have the most prominence in their creation.

Directions to create your own Wordle:
|| || Using the toolbar (shown below) at the top of your wordle you can edit the appearance of your wordle. You can use different fonts, different orientations and different color schemes. Here is an example of how I changed the appearance of the above wordle ||
 * Task || Directions ||
 * Go to Wordle Website || Select the following link www.wordle.net ||
 * || Select **Create** from the top of the webpage
 * Inserting text || Once you have selected **create** it will bring you to a new page where you can paste the text that you wish to use for creating the wordle. The first option on the page allows you to paste your selected text in which will allow you to create your wordle. Once your text has been pasted into the box select the "go" icon
 * Manipulating your wordle || Once you have hit "go" the wordle will automatically be created. In the example below I used the declaration of independence.