'Tagxedo turns words -- famous speeches, news articles, slogans and themes, even your love letters -- into a visually stunning word cloud, words individually sized appropriately to highlight the frequencies of occurrence within the body of text.'

Below is an example I whipped up in a few minutes using a poem I'd written.

 

FREE online books, puzzles and more

Funbrain offers a range of FREE novels online. The novels are popular, well presented , colourful and easy to read. They could be set as extended reading for homework, extension work (for those students who always finish a task well ahead of the others) or even be studied as a classroom text. Why not prepare your own online activities and questions to go with your chosen novel?

With the ABC series 'Once Upon a Time' about to debut on Australian Television, it seems timely to re-visit a favourite writing activity which was very popular some years ago - the fractured fairytale. 



http://www.slideshare.net/USAteacher/fractured-fairytale



This unit of work on Slideshare gives all the information you need to create your own unit or piggyback using this slideshare presentation.

Fractured Fairytale

by USAteacher on Aug 28, 2008

Left is a quirky example of a fractured fairytale you might like to use as an introduction to the task.

The website also includes numerous features that you might like to use.



Year 9 Book Trailer

As a part of the Year 9 Wide Reading program, this year we'll be trialing student-created book trailers. Below I've compiled a number of examples that I've taken from YouTube .  They all feature Scott Westerfield's novel 'Uglies' which is being studied as an English text for all of Year 9. The range of YouTube trailers available for 'Uglies' is truly astonishing as is the range and sophistication.
 
 

1. View the following trailers and see what you think.

2. Using the criteria created for the book trailer task, grade each trailer.

3. Choose a definitive winner, then in one hundred words, justify your choice.

QR codes - easier than you think

QR codes (Quick Response Codes) are two-dimensional codes that can store huge amounts of data. They are somewhat like the product bar codes we are all used to seeing on our purchases. The scanning app needed to read the codes can be downloaded for free from the following website: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ suggested by Annette as one of the more user-friendly versions available. 

Having used myself this morning to create a QR for BookCloud in only a few seconds (see above), I can vouch for its ease of use.  If you're interested in experimenting with new FREE apps, especially those with smartphones or the new iPad 2 and netbooks, visit the e-Support wiki.

Tired of adding YouTube links to your VC that disappear? Why not save your clips directly to your PC? Even if the clip is erased, you'll still have your copy. 

Download YouTube videos online without even copy-and-pasting the URL.  Just write 'save' in front of the URL in the address bar and hit enter. For example: http://saveyoutube.com/watch?v=dXP2GdqYCOM Don't forget your citation! :

LiquidGenerationTube, 2008, 10 Most racist moments in TV, online video, Oct 7th, accessed 20 February 2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMvfEdTUO6Q.

LiquidGenerationTube, 2008, 10 Most racist moments in TV, online video, Oct 7th, accessed 20 February 2012, .

BBC Poetry Archive - Listen to the voices of contemporary (and the recent past) English Language poets

The Poetry Archive is an easy to navigate website that offers an impressive repository of English Language poets reading their work.  Poets can be found by clicking on the alphabet to the bottom right of the web page.  If you click on 'A' for example, then choose 'Margaret Atwood', the following page (second image) will open giving you access to Atwood's biography, links to her personal website as well as podcasts of five featured poems.


Once you have opened a poet's page you are given access to a variety of very useful options including:

• Browse all poets by name
• Browse all poets by title
• Glossary of poetic terms
• Browse all poems by theme
• Browse all poems by form

You can also create lists of your favourite poems and poets and official portraits and share them with friends when you sign up to create your own 'My Archive'.

Across the top of the page are a range of other options.  'The Children's Archive is incredibly cute and colourful and worth exploring for Year 7 activities. 

The 'For Students' section is excellent for researching poems, poetry and related topics.  The list of links are valuable for teachers as well, especially those interested in exploring online content for their students.

The 'For Teachers' section includes:

• Classroom Materials: Lesson plans and activities for all key stages, built around Poetry Archive recordings and offering lively, engaging ways of working with poetry at all Key Stages.                        
• Poet in Residence: Each term a different poet is in residence here, talking about poetry with anyone who wants to join in the conversation. You are welcome to explore our archive of past residencies and read some of the lively and varied discussions you'll find there.                                                               
• Poetry, creativity, Multimodality (film): In this film, four teachers share their ideas for using the Archive to enrich and enliven poetry lessons.