Biography Poem and Tagxedo Word Clouds

I am in the midst of a biography unit in which my students use their research skills to study one notable person and write a three paragraph report on them as part of their culminating project. In addition to this, I have my kids working on creating a word cloud in Tagxedo, which is an computer based application that takes your words or phrases and arranges them into neat shapes. It creates a fun visual product where students can demonstrate their learning.

Sample Abraham Lincoln
createdin Tagxedo

I mentioned in a previous post that our biography unit culminates in one big celebration called the Night of the Notables. Students dress as their notable, sing some songs about notables, answer questions as though they were the notable, and present their reports to their families. All third graders participate in this project, lining the hallways in costume so their families and friends can listen to them talk about their notable. So much time is spent in the hallway, so I wanted to create a bulletin board display that was related to the project.

I decided to have my students write biography poems about their notable using the template below.  They are going to be typed, printed out, and posted on large construction paper. On the other half of the paper I am going to have my students create a word cloud (similar to Wordle). I wanted the word cloud to take the shape of their notables head, so I am using Tagxedo. It is a bit harder to use than Wordle because students need to include a tilde (~) symbol between words if they want to keep them posted together, etc. but once I figured out all of the little quirks, it wasn't too difficult. Today my students created their "Tagxedo lists." I found that it was much easier for my kids to plan out what they wanted to say prior to heading into the computer lab. It also eliminated spelling errors, etc. as I was able to look them over first. Next, they are going to cut and paste their lists into the text box in Tagxedo. Once this step is complete, students can either select an image from Tagxedo to have their words take the shape of such as a state or flower. If you want a specific image, say like a notable they are studying, you can upload them from a file. My amazing librarian helped me prepare for this project by uploading all of the images of the notables my kids are studying to a file for me. These will print out in color and look so striking next to the biography poems my students wrote!

I have seen teachers use Wordle to create similar word clouds about characters in stories or content vocabulary, etc. but I am now a fan of Tagxedo too! Give it a try!

Biography Template

I, (name)

4 adjectives that describe you

Daughter, son, or sibling of______________

Lover of 3 things

Who feels 3 things

Who needs 3 things

Who fears 3 things

Who would like to see 3 things

Am a resident of (town)

Welcome you to my poem!