Tag Galaxy

Using Tag Galaxy to Enhance Instruction
Meeting CCLS and going BEYOND!

Stumped at clever ways to teach students vocabulary in a dynamic manner? Try Tag Galaxy. This dynamic flash driven website is a search engine with flare! When a word is entered into the search bar, Tag Galaxy populates the screen with images from Flickr. The result is a striking visual globe of images related to the search word along with an orbiting galaxy of related words.

Exploring Word Meanings Tag Galaxy is a stunning way to explore vocabulary and word associations. When exploring new vocabulary, students can enter a word into Tag Galaxy to determine the meaning. The connections they will make to the images and related words will be MUCH more powerful than simply recording a definition of a word. Have students illustrate the connections they make to the word after viewing the Tag Galaxy. Entering the word "Melancholy" returns:

Expand the vocabulary lesson by having students select an image to add to a blog post (or journal writing)and write about it.






Establishing Setting in Novels Typing the word Maine in Tag Galaxy (the setting of a recent novel I'm reading) gives me:

Immediately students view dozens of images of Maine giving them a much clearer view and understanding of the setting of their story.






Teach Tone/Mood Tag Galaxy can also assist with teaching tone/mood. Provide students with a list of words. After viewing the images ask what tone the Tag Galaxy generates as a result of the word. Ask what mood it generates in the viewer.

Teach Content Specific Vocabulary Entering Science/Social Studies related words generates dozens of images on that topic thereby solidifying the concepts and exciting the students. They not only learn the word but associated words and images.



A galaxy of options for a technological classroom.
Now THAT's using your smarticles!!

**Please note: Because Tag Galaxy taps into Flickr, this tool may be blocked or limited in some districts. Also, please exercise caution. I do not recommend letting students have free rein when using this website. Students should request words to search or be limited to only specific searches that the teacher has previewed before allowing the TagGalaxy to congregate.**