November 13th, 2009
Have you tried Wordle? If you provide the text, Wordle will create a word cloud that will display each word used in the source text in a font size based on the frequency that the word appears in the source. The more the word is used, the larger it appears. Take a look at Wordle’s gallery to see some examples.
Some have criticized Wordle by suggesting that Wordle’s only attribute is that it is eye-catching.
I’m okay with that. I can work with eye-catching. Below is a Wordle I made using all the text from a recent test.
Wordle the test at Wordle.net
A few days before the test, I shared this with my students. They were eager to hypothesize as to how words like “astronaut” or “gravy” would be used to access there knowledge of friction and momentum. Some student suggested possible questions that used the terms from the word cloud. A few of their questions were so good that I plan to use them next year.
While Woodle wasn’t able to teach physics, it was able to start a conversation. That’s perfect. I can take it from there.
October 18th, 2009
Usually, I never do this. But recently I didn’t have time at a computer to type up a quiz for my physics students so I did it the old fashion way. I (gulp) hand wrote their quiz.
Sure, it is faster sometimes- especially if you have an elaborate drawing or graph. However, revising and archiving materials is not easy unless you start with a digital copy.
Nevertheless, the quiz went out to students and I jokingly made the comment that I used a special font for this week’s quiz.
I’ve had my fun with fonts before, but it turns out you can actually do this.
Check out fontcapture.com:
There’s no software to download and install, all you need is a printer and a scanner. Simply fill in the font template, scan and upload it to our website, and download your completed font. The fonts you create using fontcapture.com can be used on both Windows and Mac computers.
As I typed out my own letters for the first time, my seven year old son explained to me that he could do a better job with his letters. I think this might be a fun activity for elementary students too.
October 19th, 2007
Here is a free skull font from Skull-a-day– just in time for Halloween.
How to install fonts:
Looking for more fonts? This site is just your type (couldn’t resist that one).
