| Recommended Site: Wordle Wordle is a site that enables users to create artistic, graphic "word clouds" of text. It can be used in a variety of educational settings, from kindergarten through college. I have used the site with elementary ELL learners as a tool for practicing descriptive language. For my Spanish students, Wordle provides practice in adjective-gender agreement and descriptions. Used in a Social Studies or Current Events course, Wordle allows users to copy and paste transcripts from historic speeches and gives immediate, visual prominence to repeated words and phrases. Drawbacks: As an open-source application, it is avisable for instructors to open Wordle immediately prior to students to check for innapropriate language on recently published "word clouds". Also, many school sites block access to this application or do not have Java enabled to show the "word cloud" results. Printing is easy, but black and white printers limit the results. Embedding Wordle "word clouds" into other media applications can be complicated. Recommended Site: National Library of Virtual Manipulatives This site contains many interactive math and logic activities for grades K-12. Activites and content are arranged by age/grade level and include a range of skills. This site is useful for classrooms with SmartBoards and for individual computer uses in lab settings. I have used the Mastermind activity with learners of all ages individually and in groups to practice color vocabulary, logic skills, and social negotiation skills in groups. Drawbacks: Some applications can be slow to load, depending on the individual computer. |