I know of the existence of word clouds (our university's iKnow program has a link, which can be used, I suppose - but quite honestly only one of my teachers for the past four semesters has used it).
In a tweet by Dr. M. Tatum to the site http://unhub.com/gBPh, one teacher compares four different word cloud tools. Each seems to be a good and different variant for brainstorming with reading, literature, etc activities.
Can these be integrated into the classroom? Yes, if a teacher thinks to do so. Are they any more helpful? Is it really any more effective to include a word cloud in a lesson? To have students create their own word clouds?
Yes and no. For instance, this could just be a phenomenal waste of time. We could play around on our computers, spend hours "brainstorming" activities and never actually do anything. Or we could only use word clouds for such miniscule activities that do not warrant that much of our attention.
But I think that's unfair. After all, a blackboard is just as un-useful to a teacher who does not care enough to prepare and provide good and helpful tools for students' learning.
After reading a Shakespeare play, each student could send a word describing themes to create a word cloud. They could quite literally see the main themes. Divide the students into groups and have each come up with proofs for each theme. Or you can choose a couple of main themes and assign an essay writing on it.
The possibilities are endless to a mind open to opportunity.
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