Word Up! A Word Cloud Symbaloo Board

Word Cloud Generators have been around since the dawn of the wireless modem (that's a really long time in tech years).  Kids and teachers love them because they're quick and easy to integrate and look pretty.  That's right, I said pretty.  

The only way to make them better would be to put them in an accessible place that everyone could reach.  Drumroll, please................I put together a Symbaloo board with 12 world-renowned word cloud generators. 

Now your students (or you) can pick which one they'd like to use.  Some of these are new to myself, but you've got the classics like Tagxedo, Wordle, ABCya.  There's some newbies that you might not have ever heard of--so check those out too.

Take some time, bookmark this for the new year, and get your kids creating.  

A couple of ideas for using word cloud generators include:

• Poetry unit: Pick a poem and insert the words.

• All about Myself:  Students write words they think will describe them the best (great for beginning of the year, get-to-know-you).

• Adjectives, Nouns, & Verbs:  Lot of choices here describe rooms, objects, people, subject areas, and more.

• Character Traits from Novels:  Pick a character and write about his traits.

• Parent Gift:  Students describe parents/guardian and then print it out (include frame if possible). 

• Create class posters

• Class list, let everyone get a copy too. 

•  Social Studies:  Historical characters and their significance.

Here is a quick on I used with Word Mosaic.  

I kind of like it.  It is pretty (and totally me).

 

BarCATlounger totally thinks you check this out.

Stop over by Digital: Divide & Conquer!

     

"Let's Get Visual! Visual!" --Visual Literacy Through QR Code Breaking and a Freebie!

Are you old enough to know who this is?

This blog post title should be read/sung to the tune of Olivia Newton-John's 1981 super-smash single "Physical".  

Originally, Olivia wanted the title of the song "Physical" to be "Visual"--you see she understood the importance of visualizing, comprehending, and making inferences in educational settings.  The problem was her record label didn't totally agree--so she changed it to "Physical" and the rest is history.  True story, I swear.  Which brings us full circle to one of my favorite ways to learn--Using Visual Literacy to access understanding of what we see!

"Let's get Visual!  Visual!"  See, now the song is stuck in your brain and it's become a mind-bottling sensation for visual literacy.

Images (film, video, photos, signs, yada, yada, yada) are all around us.  They inundate us, tell us stories, and crave our attention.  BUT so many times we (and the students) don't understand the meanings behind them.  There's tons of reasons why (too difficult, it takes time and practice, patience, limited prior knowledge, where do we begin).  The bottom line is this: understanding, questioning, and making sense of images is a key skill that students need.  Not just in school, but in real life--but it's a skill they need to practice.

Would any of us be able to put together an IKEA chair and desk without the assistance of a little visual instructional fortitude?  I think not.

I love this quote (and I'm not even a quote guy).

                                                                                    leeandlowbooks.files.wordpress.com

Think about those kids you call "troublesome"  or the ones that I call "street smart".  Their ability to understand using visual literacy (and quickly take stock of their surroundings) are the kids that have it and use it the best.  That doesn't mean they always make the correct decisions BUT they pick up on cues, ask questions, and make guesses/predictions better than many of our "model" students based on my years of working with kids.  One of the reasons for this is because those students have been ingrained with the idea that they must adapt or be left behind.  They had to figure out how to navigate or they'd get left behind. But I digress...

Thinking about visual literacy makes me go back to Pinterest (I'm making a connection).  
Why do we love it?  PICTURES--immediate understanding, relating, making connections! 
How many of us are visual learners? Yup, I am.
Are we building that same base for our students?  Probably, but we could always be doing more.

                                                             http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/images/b/bc/Visual_literacy.jpg

So you're probably asking me: "Matt, how can you help me out because I'm getting real tired of you going on and on about this visual lit stuff."  Well, I got you covered because I'm giving you another QR Code Breaker Freebie for Visual Literacy. Insert Oprah's "And You Get A Car" speech here.
                                             

A couple of weeks ago I created a QR Code Breaker for Read Aloud Books (find it here).  Now I've made this freebie for improving visual literacy skills using pictures and images on the QR Codes.  After scanning in the codes the students will see an image and they'll have to answer questions specific to the image that are on the worksheet. See the examples 
below.

GRAB A FREE COPY HERE

The QR Code links to an interesting image that students must decipher/decode/understand for themselves.  Each page has four questions that vary from who, what, where, when, and why (and how) to redrawing the image, pulling vocabulary terms out, making connections, and questioning the importance, and more.  In this file you'll find five worksheets to try with your students.

So, go download this freebie and see what you think.  This is a quick and fun activity to get students thinking about exactly what they're seeing (or aren't seeing).  It's also an excellent way to create discussion in the classroom about what each individual student takes from seeing each image.  We all see from different angles and those differences can help foster a better understanding of images we see every day.

**Don't have tech?  No problem.  You can do this same thing by picking out images from newspapers, magazines, or graphics around the room.  Then have the students answer questions that aren't just "yes or "no".  Make them tell you why.  Make them explain how they know.  

So run, don't walk!  Get yourself a copy to try out.  

If you like it check out a couple of my other QR Code Adventures.

If you want to see more stop over and visit me at Digital: Divide & Conquer.  

It's a total party over there.  I mean--it is just crazy.

Come join my Wolfpack.

QR Code Breaking & A Freebie

Today’s post is brought to you by the letters Q and R.

It’s me again, Matt, that same guy that created plaid.  Today I wanted to share one of my favorite tools, QR Codes.  

“I’m pretty familiar with them,” you think rolling your eyes at me and noticing a quick response code on your McDonald's cup while perusing through the latest issue of Highlights and Ranger Rick.  

And I totally get that—but I figured I’d show you how I use them in my class and around school.  There’s a lot of different ways QR codes can be integrated into daily learning and I thought I’d share some of those.  Plus, I’ve got a brand new freebie for you to grab hold of and try with students, yourself, your kids, or your dog (if it has the brain capacity to do so).

                                                   

Did you know: Creating QR Codes is free and simple.

These are three sites that I always use.

• The QR Code Generator
• Kaywa
• GoQR

Did you know:  QR Codes can be linked to multiple outlets 

• Text (which you can write yourself), 
• URLs (which can be videos, images, websites, and more).
• Email address
• Locations
• Calendars
• WiFi networks
• Messaging

One of the cooler elements of QR Coding is teaching my students how to become a QR Code Breaker.  Basically, I'm teaching the kids how they work and how they'll use them in the classroom.  It's easy and fast and they pick it up faster than teachers.  In my class we use QR Codes to read books.  

You gotta remember, a lot of my students are struggling readers and independent reading time isn't always fun because they can't read.  Well, I've changed that because I'll find books that are read aloud on the web and turn it into a QR code for them.  Suddenly these kids are reading and enjoying all the books that were originally too difficult (and now we're fostering a greater interest in reading and making kids excited).  Engagement is always the key.

So I've got a little freebie for you today.  I'm sharing QR Code Breaker: Scan, Read, and Answer.  These are worksheets with built in QR Codes on each sheet that will take students directly to a book.  Students can then listen/read and answer the questions that correlate on each page.  I like to call this active reading.  There's multiple routes students can take to finish the work sheets, and even a couple of levels based on the rigor your looking for.

Grab it here on Google Drive

or

At my TPT store here.

***These are for every kid.  Not just struggling readers***

This will work for all students and all reading levels.

More QR Code Read Aloud Books and other activities can be found here.

Here's a glimpse of how each worksheet will be set up.

TL;DR Edition:  QR Codes are cool.  Here is a freebie for you to try out.

If you still want to see some more QR Code ideas in action 

stop over and visit me at Digital: Divide & Conquer.