Identifying+similarities+and+differences

= Identifying similarities and differences =

Overview
Guiding students in the process of identifying similarities and differences allows them to develop higher level thinking skills. When students learn how to use their prior knowledge in learning new material, they become more independent thinkers. The key to education is connecting new concepts to previously learned material. Explicitly teaching strategies for identifying similarities and differences provides students with a valuable educational tool.

1) Wordle
** Rationale ** Wordle (www.wordle.net) is a free online tool which can be used to create artistic word clouds of text. The font size of each word is determined by the frequency of the word in the text passage. === ===  Wordle could be used to assess similarities and differences in text passages. For example, here are the word clouds produced by Obama’s inaugural speech next to Bush’s inaugural speech:

[[image:obamabush3.JPG width="789" height="287" caption="Image retrieved from http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/tag_clouds_of_obamas_inaugural_speech_compared_to_bushs.php"]]
 A teacher could use Wordle to create word clouds of familiar text. The students could be asked to identify the text according to the word cloud. It makes it easy for students to see at a glance which words are emphasized in a text passage. For example, a unit on Aesop’s fables(@http://aesopfables.com/aesop3.html) could be enhanced using word clouds.

Wordle could also be used to create a visual frequency count of vocabulary words students find difficult. Using Etherpad (www.etherpad.com), all students in a class could collaboratively post the terms they are having a difficult time comprehending. The Etherpad document could be used to create a word cloud of vocabulary words, and the teacher could use it to guide a class discussion.


 * Requirements**
 * A computer with Internet access is needed.


 * Cost**
 * www.wordle.net (cost: free)
 * www.etherpad.com (cost: free)



2) Pageflakes and Weebly
** Rationale ** Weebly could be used to create a classroom blog. The teacher’s page could include vocabulary words, links to online activities, and other learning materials. Each student in the class would be given their own page. Since a Weebly blog can be used to create an RSS feed, the blogs could be aggregated using Pageflakes or any other page aggregator (Google Reader). The page aggregator allows the class to compare and contrast their responses to the teacher’s prompt question. The teacher could post a picture, and ask the students to classify the picture. The students could be asked to identify similarities and differences between posted images or passages of text.



Pageflakes could also be used to create a page of feeds from various news agencies, and students could compare and contrast the top stories from each agency. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. A website that provides a RSS feed is usually a frequently updated page. For example, Gmail and Facebook provide RSS feeds. This allows users to aggregate all websites they need to check frequently on one page using a page aggregator.


 * Requirements**
 * A computer with Internet access is needed.


 * Cost**
 * www.weebly.com (cost: free)
 * www.pageflakes.com (cost: free)

3) Google docs document statistics
** Rationale ** Google docs contains an extremely powerful tool in their document statistics tool. By going to Tools-Word Count, you obtain all the relevant statistics about a text passage. This is very useful to teachers and students. Students could use it to assess the grade level of their own writing, and teachers could use it to determine the difficulty level of assigned reading material. It allows students to see how word choice and sentence structure impacts the readability of their written work. Students could record the statistics generated from a sample of their written work at the beginning of the school year. At the end of each grading period, they could submit another sample of work, and compare the document statistics.


 * Requirements**


 * A computer with Internet access**.**


 * Cost**
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; msoansilanguage: EN-US; msobidifontsize: 12.0pt; msobidilanguage: AR-SA; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman'; msofareastlanguage: EN-US;">A Google account (cost: free)

Education Challenge

 * Literacy Development**

Focus on Effectiveness identifies several implementation strategies to address the educational challenge of literacy development. The use of Wordle, Weebly, and Pageflakes would all facilitate vocabulary development. Creating an environment where there is a positive reaction (a more attractive word cloud) to admitting difficulty with a vocabulary word would encourage learners to admit more readily to their misconceptions. Allowing students to see that everyone has difficulties with certain vocabulary words would cause students to reevaluate their own understanding.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Google reader would encourage reflection and revision, as students could change their word choices and sentence structure based on the feedback they get from the word count tool.

Resources
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. (2005). //Focus on Effectiveness.// Retrieved from