Thing #14: More Cool Tools

Okay, this is a HUGE step for me. Even though it's not exactly how I want it, I'm going to leave it like this (until I figure out how to fix it) as a symbol of my growing confidence with technology.

Obviously, I made a Wordle. It took the piece that I wrote about going to see Wicked (I swear I'm not obsessed--well, maybe just a little). I wanted to use a large chunk of text that I didn't have to compose on the spot, so this was easy to copy/paste. I played around with the cool features (so fun!) and created my Wordle just like I want it. However, I don't want to put it in the public gallery, but I wanted to save it and embed it in my blog. I read through some of the FAQs about doing this, and it talked about doing a "screen shot." So here it is, and I figured it out all by myself. Yes, I'm proud. But I don't like that it shows the actual screen, so I'm sure there is a way to fix this. How do I save just the Wordle (without the ugly screen) and embed it into my blog? Help me please!

I love Wordles. I think this would be fun as a revising/editing exercise. Kids can take their pieces and copy/paste them into Wordles to see what words are emphasized. In theory, the words that are the biggest should be the "main ideas" or the strongest points the writer wants to express. Also, they are just pretty. I want to decorate my library with Wordles!

I also experimented with Ta-Da List, which was super easy. I printed out my own To Do List for the week, which lists Things 14-23 on it to finish by Thursday. I have a plan to accomplish this task, and it will feel good to check these things off. I think Ta-Da List would be good to use if you needed to share a list with multiple people. It seems kind of silly to to one just for yourself.

Now I can check off Thing #14! :)