Student Writing Reflection Part 2 - Analyzing Creatively

Sometimes, it is nice to change-up the way we reflect on our writing or thinking. A word cloud is one visual way to do a more creative analysis. Wordle is just one of those word cloud tools.

1. Select and Copy your writing
2. Go to Wordle.net or another word cloud program
3. Click on "Create"
4. In the first box, paste in the text you copied from your writing
5. Click on "Go"
6. Adjust the color, language preferences, layout, etc. 
7. You can now either print it, take a screen shot of it to use elsewhere, or post on a blog or website.
     7a. To post on a blog or website, you'll need to save to the public gallery (bottom of the page)
     7b. Once it finishes, scroll to the bottom, select and copy the HTML code
     7c. In your blog post or site, make sure you have enabled HTML editing.
     7d. Paste in the HTML code
     7e. Add any additional thoughts

Student Writing Reflection Part 1

Now that you have taken a close look at and discussed your student writing, take a few minutes to do a quick write about what you've observed. The following are some guiding ideas :

• What does it show about their understanding?
• What does it show about their writing skills?
• What is the connection to the rest of their academic/intellectual growth?
• What does it show about your growth in teaching writing and/or social studies?
• What does it show about their challenges?
• What does it show in a positive way?
• What would you do differently?
• What would you make sure to do exactly the same way?
• Other observations

After the quick write, we'll be using a tool to analyze what you see.

Follow That Blog

For those of you who would like another way to access the blogs from from your colleagues and/or new blogs you may find, there is a way to do this by setting up an RSS reader to collect any new posts from blogs you select.  You can find information on RSS (Real Simple Syndication) and how to set up an RSS reader on the SMUSD website in the Technology Department blog Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) under the title Keeping Up With Your Reading.