Cool Tool week 11!

The cool tool I chose for this week is TagCrowd. As on the website says, "make your own tag cloud from any text".

The purpose of this app is to put in order the  words to create a sentence with sense.

If you click on this link http://tagcrowd.com/ (where you can find the app), the first thing that you see is that you have to choose your text source among these options: paste text, web page URL, or upload file and then you would have to click in "Visualize! "

Also, under the text you are gonna paste you can find options. Here you can pick the language of text, maximum number of words to show, etc...

I chose to paste a test. In this case I pasted one of my favorite quotes about education which is: "The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows." by Sidney J. Harris.

It would be like this:

Once I click to Visualize the result would be this: 

I would use this tool in classroom very often! This tool is really cool to play some games while improving capacity of creativity. Kids will have fun by guessing the answer! 

I would create some groups of 5 people. And I will write something and once converted, they have to guess what is the real sentence. The group that wins create another sentence and they have to tape it on my computer and other groups have to guess it. The group that guess it, has to go to my computer and do the same. The group that guess the most sentences gain some extra points. 

I really think students will have fun and moreover they will learn how to communicate to each other since they have to give me a final answer. 

Regarding the TPACK: I will have the knowledge about the subject matter to be learned. I will prepare this activity really well and I will know when to use it. I do not want to use it every day since I want to make this game as something special. I want them so say " yes, today we are playing this game!" 

Also, I believe that teachers should set aims for students and interpret the subject matter. My goal using this tool is to create a fun environment within students, capture their attention as well as improve their creativity skills. 

Moreover, this is a great example of understanding technology. I will show to my students  how they can use this application since they have to use it in class. As I said before, they will pick a sentence and it will appear in the smart board since I will use a projector. Doing this, I will improve their skills not just in technology but communication and creativity. 

Finally, I will see after my first lesson if this is fun for them or not. If I see that children like it and that they work well together in groups I will keep using this cool tool. 

So, definitely, I will use this tool in my future classroom. Students will play and learn while having fun with it. They will learn also how to manage this tool as well as the computer. In addition, they will learn how to respect turns since the work is gonna be in groups of 4 or 5 people. They would have to conclude in something and give me one answer, not five. 

“We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher’s hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of our world.” – David Warlick