Using Text as Artwork: Wordle and TYPEDRAWiNG

Recently, I read a blog post by Terry Freedman called "Five Reasons to use Wordle in the Classroom." It gave some good ideas for ways to use this application to represent text graphically. Wordle generates "word clouds" of a text passage. The frequency that words appear in the text is represented by the relative size of the words in the cloud. The application allows you to control font, colors, and general layout. It's an engaging and exciting way to represent text in an unconventional way. Freedman's suggestions include using Wordle as a way to summarize and analyze material, reflect on your own writing, as a discussion starter for presentations, or as a way to illustrate a piece of writing. 

Today I was browing the iPhone app store (a guilty pleasure) and came upon another application called TYPEDRAWiNG, which has been available as an online application since 2005, in which you can enter a short line of text and use it to create line art. You use your mouse to draw a line. In this case, though, it's like you're using a paintbrush and the words are your paint. In my brief dabbling with the tool, I did find that the amount of text you can enter at one time is limited, as is the total amount of drawing you can do. The overall images are pretty cool, though.

Both applications provide interesting ways that students or teachers could use words in a graphic way. In a recent science lesson introducing rocks and minerals, for example, I asked students to describe several rock samples. I copied their descriptions into Wordle to create this image that we used as a discussion starter the next day. It was a good way to have them begin identifying some of the properties of rocks.

I can also envision a classroom activity using TYPEDRAWiNG in which students choose a sentence, or portion of a poem to illustrate graphically. For instance, I made this quick (and amateur) sketch for the first line of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poem, Afternoon on a Hill. "I will be the gladdest thing under the sun." It could be fun to see what kids create to show a favorite line of text!

All in all, though, the thing that I like about both of these applications is the fact that they can create a "wow" response to words. Anything that helps create excitement and interest for text seems, to me, to be a useful tool to have available. 

Ideas for using word processing software

Much of my thinking about technology integration seems to be focused on online technologies. However, teachers should not overlook stand-alone technology, such as word processing when considering tools for technology integration. Word processors are a common software application that can have some significant impacts on student communication.

In reviewing research, I have learned that the uses of technology that show the most benefit for student performance are constructivist, meaning that they help students to develop understanding and construct meaning from the work (Wenglinsky, 2005). In utilizing word processing for students, attention should be given to keep the software tools from interfering with student skill development. For instance, the ease of spell checking may encourage students to pay less attention to the correct spellings of words. Research has shown, though, that students who struggle with writing are motivated by the professional look that word processing offers, as well as by the ability to easily find and change errors. Additionally, the ability to hear work read back for students has been seen to increase the confidence level of developing writers (Zhang, 2000).

Below are a few ways that you might incorporate word processing software to support student work.

• Have students type their rough drafts rather than copying from a written draft. This, of course, requires that students be somewhat proficient in keyboarding skills. However, the benefit can be great. When students type their drafts, they are then able to use the software as a tool for revising.  Students can easily move entire sentences or paragraphs within a document. They can delete unwanted words or phrases and add description to other areas.
  
• Utilize pictures and clip art to provide a non-linguistic representation of the ideas being communicated (Pitler, et al., 2007). You could have students engage in word play and exploration by having them create a rebus, a sentence that uses pictures in place of words.
  
• Use the Auto-Summarize, word count, and readability scores offered by software such as Microsoft Word. Students can make revisions to their work and see if it brings their “score” higher. Research has shown that creating a game-like situation is motivating for student learning and approaching the readability and sentence length data as a "score" may encourage students to revise and edit their work.
  
• Turn off spelling and grammar check until the end. Encourage students to try to find and correct errors on their own first. The Track Changes feature on several applications can be used as a way of checking which errors the student found. You might ask students to print a copy of the document before spell checking it. Students could use bold text or underlining to indicate words for which they are uncertain of the correct spelling.
  
• Use text to speech features to support students with reading or writing difficulties to hear their written work. I have watched students who normally refused to make revisions to handwritten work replay a sentence several times in order to decide if it needed a comma. For students with disabilities or language difficulties, this can be very powerful.
  
• Allow students who have writing or keyboarding difficulties to use voice recognition software to generate a draft that can then be edited and revised.
  

These suggestions and ideas are a small sample of what can be done with word processing in the classroom. Have other ideas? I'd love to hear them!