Wordle-ing a column

Wow.

Maureen S. Irwin, Director of the Library, in Rye Country Day School, NY sent me the graphic below. She "Wordled" an column I wrote that she'll be using in her school. What a beautiful way to say "thanks"! And thanks back to you, Maureen.

A Wordle cloud for Top Ten Things Baby Teachers Should Know About School Libraries. Note the words WILL, CAN, HELP and STUDENTS are all prominent. Hmmmmm...

Comments

[Vicki Davis]

I think that this wordle says so much about you and your beliefs. Sometimes I've wordled things and not liked the words I used. I think that it is fascinating to wordle a wikipedia article on a topic before the student has delved into it. (In fact, I wish they would just create one automatically.)

As I see the wordle for your article, it just makes me stand amazed. I also ask myself - -if someone could wordle the words I use in a week -- what would I see? Would I like it?

[Maureen]

I've wondered the same thing, Vicki. Perhaps we should have kids Wordle their oral presentations for the same reason. I'm thinking of having kids wordle campaign speeches. I think it helps to winnow away the clutter and find the heart.

[Paul C.]

Just want to say I really like the subtle redesign of your blog. That would make an interesting post: how did you do it?

[H. Howe]

Thanks for sharing this website, Doug. I just sent it on to my faculty as an interesting website they might use for art or a starting point for a concept map. Of course, as soon as I did that, somebody on the internet dropped the F-Bomb in one of the four examples on the home page! So I sent out a follow-up "whooops!" message. Fortunately, it is summertime, so people (so far) have a sense of humor.

I look at it as a good reminder that there are some wonderful educational tools out there, but that we can't always count on them being used that way by everybody.

I wonder whether the creator of the site would be willing to make an educational portal, without the public examples... I'll have to email him.

[M. Baker]

Hi, Doug, love the Wordle site but, more importantly, this one's conceptualization of today's media specialist. I am sharing it in my blog (with attribution and trackback to all, of course!) with all the librarians in my KY schools. Thanks! P.S. You have a groupie here!

[Guusje]

Those Wordles totally disrputed the prep for a New Teacher inservice this morning. I manged to get everyone totally off task! And I'm very proud of myself too!

[Doug Johnson]

@ Hi Vicki,

I am sure I would not always be proud of the Wordle-view of everything I write either. Should it be an expected practice that all writers preview their work before publication? It might raise the level of discourse.

Thanks for the comment!

Doug

@ Maureen,

Yes. And students too!

Doug

@ Paul,

Thanks for the compliment on the redesign. It was a happy byproduct of the change in software of my bloghost, Squarespace.

All the best,

Doug

@ Hi H,

I had not thought about the possibility of inappropriate language being Wordled, but obviously it could be a problem. The education-only portal is a good idea. I know teachers never use bad language ;-)

Thanks for the observation,

Doug

@ Thanks, M. You are always welcome to use anything you find on my blog or website with others.

All the best,

Doug

@ Hi Guusje,

How does the t-shirt go? " Chaos, panic and disorder - my work here is done."

Subversive librarians rule!

Doug