During+Reading+Sample+Lessons

What is a Word Cloud? | Word Cloud Generators | ** Teaching & Learning with Word Clouds **
 * During Reading
 * Reinforce Vocabulary
 * Students take notes on their own word cloud about word meaning/context as the poem is read. Students may choose to draw arrows connecting words that seem to fit together during reading. Question marks may be placed by words that students do not understand or about which they have questions during reading.
 * Students find synonyms and antonyms during reading. Students may identify synonyms and antonyms in a variety of ways:
 * Synonyms - clap when you hear one part of a synonym pair, circle synonyms in the same color, draw arrows connecting synonyms, say synonym pairs together during reading
 * Antonyms - stomp when you hear one part of the antonym pair, place an X over each antonym in the same color, say antonym pairs together during reading
 * Derive Main Idea
 * Draw students' attention to the 2 largest sizes of words. In this example, "dedicated," "nation," "people," "dead," "great," and "living" are the 2 largest sizes of words.) Pairs brainstorm the main idea based on the various ways these words could be connected.
 * Students draw pictures of each of the 2 largest sizes of words in order to create a single sentence that would describe a main idea.
 * Use the "Somebody Wants But So" (SWBS) strategy (Kylene Beers in __What Teachers Can Do When Kids Can't Read__) using only words from the word cloud. Somebody = People, Want(s) = Great Nation, But = War, So = Men Consecrated Dead (People want a great nation, but war has torn the country apart. So, men consecrated/dedicated the dead.)
 * Identify Supporting Details
 * Identify the main idea (or assist students in finding the main idea). Students should rank the remaining words in the word cloud, those not used to identify the main idea, in order of support offered for main idea. For example, "dedicated" would receive a high rank because it supports the main idea that the dead were dedicated; on the other hand, "far" would receive a lower rank because in this speech, it does not directly support the main idea on its own.
 * Students use the words in the word clouds to write their own sentences to demonstrate support for the main idea.
 * Ask pairs to select their top 3 words from the word cloud that best support the main idea of the speech. Pairs must defend their choices to their peers.