Using Wordle to Make Word Choice Posters

I made a fun discovery today.  Wordle is a fun way to make work choice posters for or with your students. It can be used to create a visual list of synonyms for students to use in their writing.

Here is one I made this morning for the word  "grand" in French.

Wordle allows you to create word clouds for many URL's and it also allows you to enter your own word lists. Wordle lets you to customize the size, font and color of the words.

Steps for Making your Wordle Word Choice Posters: 


1) Choose a word that students are over using in your classroom.
2) For French words visit: http://www.synonyms-fr.com/ and enter it there to get a list of synonyms. Copy the words by highlighting them, and then typing Control+C.
    In English you can visit: http://www.synonym.com to get a list of synonyms.  Copy the words by highlighting them, and then typing Control+C.
3) Go to www.wordle.net and select "Advanced" tab.

4) Paste the words into the first box by clicking in the box then typing Control+P.
5) Put one word per line. Remove any words you don't want to include in your poster.

6) Place : plus a number beside each word. The bigger numbers will give you larger words. Smaller numbers will give you smaller words. Consider making the words that you would like used more often larger.

7) Press go.
8) Use the random button at the bottom or the Layout , Font and Color tabs at the top to customize your Wordle.

9) When you are happy with your Wordle you can save it to the public directory or print it. You can also use the "Snipping Tool" in Windows 7 to save it as an image to use later


I am also toying with the idea of having students create their own analogue "Wordles" as a word work activity. So that is what I learned at school today. What do you think? How do you use Wordle?