CHAPTER NINE: IDENTIFYING

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

Vonnie & Rachel

Recommendations for Classroom Practice

Teach comparing and classifying using similarities and differences

Give students a model of the steps. Use familiar context. Use a graphic organizer as a visual tool. Guide students through this process.

Gradually give less structure and less guidance.

Word Processing Applications

Use Microsoft Word Drawing toolbar to draw diagrams, charts, tables, or other templates to compare and classify items or illustrate a metaphor.

Venn Diagram

Spreadsheet Software

Facilitates the comparison of data, making it an ideal tool to use with students to help them identify similarities and differences.

Students collect data, input into spreadsheet, apply any necessary formulas, and convert to multiple visual representations of their data.

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Organizing and Brainstorming Software

Kidspiration (grades preK-5) and Inspiration (for intermediate and older)

Student-generated graphic organizers that helps students visually portray connections and experience new and deeper insights about the content.

Data Collection Tools

Very useful for identifying similarities and differences due to the fact that it allows students to quickly create many graphical representations for comparison.

CHAPTER 10: HOMEWORK AND

PRACTICE

Vonnie & Rachel

Recommendations for Classroom Practice

Homework Establish and communicate a homework policy. Design homework assignments that clearly

articulate purpose and outcome. Vary approaches to providing feedback.

Practice Ask students to chart their speed and accuracy Design practice assignments that focus on

specific elements of a complex skill or process Plan time for students to increase their

conceptual understanding of skills or processes.

Word Processing Applications

Microsoft Word Students are able to do research on a specific

topic using the Microsoft Research tools. Microsoft 2003: Tools>Research Microsoft 2007: Review Tab> Research Eliminates the need to go back and forth between a

browsing program/search engine window and the Word Processing software.

Other Resources Available: Thesaurus Dictionary E-Library

Spreadsheet Software

Using spreadsheets for homework and practice is typically about students using data to master concepts and skills.

Students can practice by calculating, manipulating, and displaying data to gain deeper understanding.

Example: A P.E. teacher and football coach had students use

spreadsheet software to enter their workout data. Once data was collected, the students used their

data to create a graph.

Multimedia Software

Using and creating multimedia requires a high degree of technology accessibility.

Multimedia homework is an opportunity to deepen understanding and gain proficiency.

Practicing with multimedia allows students to shape the experience to their individual learning style and increase their level of understanding to mastery.

Educational Software

EDDIE Awards BESSIE Awards Technology & Learning’s

Awards of Excellence eSchoolNews Readers’

Choice Awards CodIE Awards Discovery Education’s

The Parent Channel

(see page 193 for websites!)

In addition to learning from multimedia, students can learn with multimedia by creating their own projects.

PowerPoint games Jeopardy Battleship

List of Resources Create Projects

Web Resources

Allow students to practice concepts and skills repeatedly from their homes, during a study period, or even as an anchor activity in a differentiated classroom.

Online educational games have an inherent appeal and generate immediate feedback that allows a student, parent, and teacher to monitor progress toward mastery.

Web Resources

BBC Skillswise National Library of

Virtual Manipulatives ExploreLearning BrainPop Iknowthat.com Stellarium

(see page 196-198 for websites!)

Wizards & Pigs Flashcard

Exchange Mousercise Lever Tutorial Kitchen

Chemistry Hurricane Strike! Instant Project

Communication Software

Microsoft Word ‘Track Changes’ and ‘Insert Comments’ features to give feedback on student writing.

Writeboard.com allows multiple users to edit a document via the Web (similar to a wiki)

Backpack Checklist (www.backpackit.com) allows students to make individual or shared pages to organize notes, Web sites, to-do lists, etc.

Campfire (www.campfirenow.com) is an online group chat tool which allows students to collaborate between classrooms, schools, or even countries.

Web Resources

Web resources used for text editing.

Google Docs (http://docs.google.com)

YourDraft (www.yourdraft.com)

Sometimes referred to as WYSIWYG (wizee wig) which stands for “what you see is what you get”

JotSpot (www.jot.com)

THE END

Vonnie & Rachel