Wordle It

After discussing with students what character traits are, they will create a list of ten character traits that they believe describe themselves. Next, students will create a data table and poll their classmates as to which three character traits they feel best describe the person that is surveying. The student will tally these results, keeping track of the number of times each trait has been chosen.

Using http://www.wordle.net, students will create word clouds with their traits. The student will type results from their data into the text box. The trait should be typed in as many times as it was chosen by classmates. This way, words that were chosen more frequently will appear in larger text in the word cloud.

After creating the word cloud, students may work on the format of color, font, and layout. When happy with the appearance, they will print it out.

Allow time for students to share their word cloud and discuss the traits that were more frequently chosen. Display work in classroom or hallway.

This lesson may be changed to include students choosing character traits for a character in their reading book or story.