Wordle

Title: Analyzing Student Writing Content: Writing Grade: 3rd Objectives:
 * Students will identify overused words in their writing.
 * Students will compare their wordle to a wordle from a well known author.
 * Students will brainstorm alternatives for overused words.

Teacher Technology Standards: During this lesson teachers will...
 * facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.
 * model digital-age work and learning.

Process: Note: Students will need to type up their stories in preparation for this lesson.

1. Go to Wordle and have it projected on the screen. 2. Take a piece of student work (anonymously) and paste it into the wordle. Text Example provided. Wordle Example. Ask the students what they notice about the words. Responses should include that they are all mixed up, some are bigger and some are smaller. Then ask, why do you think some words are bigger than others? Think about the words that are big. Are they juicy words? Guide students toward the conclusion that the bigger words are used more frequently. 3. Then paste in more examples of student work. Keep a list of overused words on a google doc. Continue pasting in student work and creating wordles until you have a good size list of over used words. Students should realize some similarities in the words that come up. 4. Then when you are finished creating a list of words. Paste a body of text from a well known children's book. Have the students compare and contrast that wordle to the previous wordles created from student work. Text Example provided. Wordle Example. 5. Finally, use the list of commonly overused words and brainstorm replacements. When a word such as "the" comes up, talk about how not every word has a synonym and some words simply need to be used in moderation.

Assessment:Students will then go back into their writing and make replacements for their overused words. Provide students with the list of words and their replacements the class created together as a reference. Students should then paste their work into Wordle and look to see if their "big" words became smaller.