Identifying+Similarities+and+Differences

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**Educational Strategy: **
 * Identifying similarities and differences **

According to the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, the research based strategy, __identifying similarities and differences__ involves skills needs to identify patterns and connections, metaphors, and create analogies. The technologies Blogger, Inspiration, and Flickr have the potential to make these strategies successful.

Technology Resources:

According to Focus on Education, one of the goals of the strategy is to get students discussing various viewpoints, express their ideas, and make comparisons. Blogger is a website that allows users to host and publish blogs. Users can express various points of view, reflect, share links and photos, and comment on other blogs. A science class, for example, studying the recent oil disaster in the Gulf, could discuss environmental effects, responsibilities, and preservation. Students could also connect with others around the globe, exchange opinions, and hear various viewpoints. It is simple to use, and school districts would not be required to purchase software or other equipment. Educators may also need permission from the school district to unblock blogging sites, and monitor the content that students are viewing while in a school setting. Students must be at least 13 years old, have access to the internet, and a valid email account. Users can create a new account, or use an existing Google account to create a blog.

“Build on what students know. Recognize that students build new understanding onto what they already know. Take time to assess their individual starting points, then provide students with a choice of ways to engage with key content” (NREL, 2005). Our students know how to blog, many of them join social networking sites as soon as they are given permission. They enjoy using sites like MySpace to express themselves, and their skills can be easily channeled into an educational outlet.



Another goal of the strategy is to have the students create graphic organizers to classify, compare, and make analogies. Inspiration is software for creating concept maps, flowcharts, outlines, and other organizational tools. Inspiration would be useful for this strategy because it offers a variety of formats and graphics that the student can choose from to create a graphic organizer to fit any criteria. Students can also create visual and oral presentation, and there are tools and tips for the student to personally prepare for the presentation. If I were to implement this in my classroom, I would have the students create Venn diagrams to compare cultures, or create a flowchart for various words that have been taken from the French language, changed, and how they are used in the English language today. There are several different varieties of the Inspiration software: Inspiration 9, InspireData, Kidspiration, and Webspiration. The product prices range from $69 to $550, and require a computer with Windows 98 or higher, with 250 MB of hard drive available. It is also recommended that the user have an internet connection and QuickTime.



The third technology, used for the analogy and metaphor portion of this strategy, is Flickr, a photo sharing site. Flickr is a free website that allows students to upload photos, organize, edit, create products, and share their creations. Students can also collaborate on projects like scrapbooks and create forums to discuss the images. Flickr can be used in instruction to illustrate an analogy or metaphor and to have the students created their own illustrated versions. In my classroom, I would use Flickr to have the students create illustrations of common French idioms. For example, to describe a high fever, the French use the phrase “fever of a horse.” To form an assessment, I would post various photos depicting the idioms, and the students would be required to write the correct phrase for each photo. Flickr is a free site, but does require students to create an account, or log in with an existing Yahoo account. Similar to Blogger, users must be at least 13 years old, and an educator would probably have to have permission from the administration to unblock the site. Digital cameras and Flip video cameras would be helpful, but are not necessary to use the site.

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