Wordling along...

Field of gourd in the early fall.

A field of gourd plants.

I love to Wordle!  It's fast, it's fun, it's like casting a boatload of gourd seeds into a field and seeing what surprises appear. (Of course, initially all you get is a field of green, but then the fall approaches and the vines die back to expose the fruits.)

In this assignment however, the analytical aspect of Wordle came to the forefront. Since Wordle determines word size as a relationship between the number of times words appear within the body of information entered, any resulting large words imply a bigger focus. Therefore, entering two sets of word data into two different Wordles will result in a display of different word concentration and emphasis.

I entered the NETS T 2000 and NETS T 2008 standards into Wordle to make two different placards. I kept the same font and the same color palette. The evolution from one set to the other presents itself visually.

NETS T 2000

NETS T 2008

By looking at the two Wordles, it is clear the direction of technology standards have moved from emphasizing technology to incorporating technology as one of the tools for learning. Teachers exist in both, learning exists in both, as do resources, and students. However, the 2008 standards takes a more holistic point of view of technology whereas the 2000 standards, oddly enough for Wordle, treat technology as a stand-alone entity.

Applying this visual analysis to gourd artists and the types of products they tend to make over a career as a gourdist. As you can see, they start out making the obvious: bowls, jars, and birdhouses usually with kettle, canteen, or dipper gourds. After a period of time producing utilitarian products, they tend to move on to smaller, more ornamental products such as dolls, jewelry, and ornaments. These require less prep time, and far less gourd dust. A savvy gourdist picks and chooses gourd products carefully to avoid the dangers.

Gourd products folks start with. 

Gourd products that become mainstay.

In a similar comparison, let's look at the Virginia Lovers' Gourd Society vendor applications over time: 2009 and 2012. Both are applications for the Virginia Gourd Festival, but look differences.

2012 application

2009 application 

By 2012, the chapter had begun to encourage vendors to stress the importance of students and gourd educational purposes at the festival. This tilt of emphasis shows in the Wordles. Amazing!!






Using this strategy to make assessments would be in line with 2008 NETS T standard #2: design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools...  What a clever, interesting way to have students compare two sets of data and make conclusions! As part of the Plagiarism lessons, comparing copyright laws of 1950 and 2000 would produce some striking comparisons even among students who did NOT read the handouts!

I'm doing this today with a couple of my PRISMS kiddos, thanks Wordle!!