I use a lot of technology in my classroom, and I could always use more... but to answer this question I'm going to talk about how I use Wordle in my classes. Wordle is a word cloud generator that will take any text you put in (including the URL to a blog) and spit out a word cloud of the most commonly-used words.
I use this as a pre-reading activity. The larger a word is, the more used it is in the book or article or chapter. Based on the words on this Wordle, what can be guess about what we are about to read? What might the main themes be?
I also use it as a way to gauge students' thinking about a subject prior to and after a unit. Have each student write 100 words (or 200) answering the essential question for the unit: my current unit's question is "To what extent does school achieve the goals for a true education?" Comparing the answers before and after usually reveal new ideas and texts that were not in the first Wordle. It's a cool thing to show the class, so that they can see the shift in their own thinking.
You're welcome! (And thank you, Blogosphere, for all of your suggestions!)
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