Wordle+Book+Ads

 Take your books’ covers from //drab// to //fab// by challenging students to make “Book Ads” using “Wordle”—a free, user-friendly, Web 2.0 tool that transforms simple text into eye-popping word clouds. Modify the directions and templates provided below to use with students.

//**What do I do with a Wordle? **//
 * Print them out and use them in a bulletin board or book display.
 * Create genre or Dewey themed wordles and display them on your book shelves.
 * Create author Wordles and include the titles of all the author's books. Students can use them to find new titles.
 * Create a Wordle gallery on your library website.
 * Make a power point and have it run on a screen in the library or in the hallways throughout the day.

 **Step-by-Step Directions for Creating Wordle Book Ads:**

 ** Wordle Planning Template: **

 ** Sample, Completed Template: **

  When students finish their creations, link their images together into a photo gallery that can be viewed from your Library Media Center’s website and/or wiki. Encourage students to reference the galleries for selection ideas and recommendations. View a sample gallery here.

** Update: April, 2011 - A HUGE TIME-SAVER! **

 Click on Wordle's Advance tab to avoid having to copy and paste words or phrases. Simply type the word or phrase, followed by a colon and the number of times it should be "counted" in the word cloud's formation.  (The greater the number, the larger the text.)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Remember, words can be "kept together" by using a ~ symbol. (An author's name, such as Andrew Clements, would be typed Andrew~Clements).

(refers to Windows 7 operating system)
 * Revised Step-by-Step Guide for Students and Templates:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Joyce Valenza recently posted a related idea for advertising specific Dewey classes within the library's collection. (Click here to view her blog post.) Tweak the summaries provided by the O.C.L.C. (Online Computer Library Center, Inc.) to make the text and call numbers reflect your specific collection.



<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: left;">**Additional Wordle blog posts:** Joyce Valenza's "Wordle Genre Signs (and Authors-I-Like signs)" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cathy Jo Nelson's "It's a Mad, Mad Wordle"

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Alternative Word Cloud Generators:**

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