Raúl A. Mora recommends this website!

In CI 473, we have been learning about how to integrate different strategies to improve the quality of teaching different elements of content area literacy. We have discussed how important it is to work on vocabulary development. We have also tried to incorporate some of the technology available out there for teachers into our everyday work.

I learned about Wordles through some colleagues, including some amazing scholars and teachers I've met through Twitter. Wordles are word clouds that one can create online. I showed my students how to use Wordles, and I even created a Wordle for our class:

But, even with this demonstration, I knew there was something missing, the process itself. I mean, how did I create the Wordle? How did I make the picture file? As much as I wish I were able to give a more intense, hands-on demonstration, time is of the essence in this course. However, I ran into a website that fit my instructional needs as a glove! Click on the link below to go there: 

 PRE-TEACHING VOCABULARY  

Why this page, you wonder? Well, the author takes you on a very clear step-by-step guide on how to create a Wordle, how to create an image out of it and some of the possible uses of the Wordle. I recommend it to my students and any other teachers out there for the following reasons:

1. It's very illustrative. The author goes to great lengths to explain every step. I think that any teacher, regardless of how tech-savvy they may be, so long as they're creative, can create a Wordle after following this video tutorial.

2. It fit within my lesson plan about strategies to pre-teach vocabulary. In fact, it expands on my initial suggestions for the use of Wordles in class. I realized, after watching the tutorial, that Wordles can recognize high-frequency words, which can be used as a good way to pre-teach vocabulary. If students realize that they have a grasp of such words, that will help them gain confidence in their reading skills.

3. I particularly enjoyed that the author was a school teacher. He was very forthcoming about how he had used it in class and how it had worked. Sometimes I know that we tell our preservice teachers that some things we share with them are useful. Hearing it from a teacher actually reinforces that idea. It also shows them that teacher educators do not always work at a vacuum and that we actually pay attention to what is going on in schools.

That's why I endorse this page. I hope other teachers will find it useful... and if you do, let us know in the comments section!

Raúl A. Mora

CI 473 Instructor