Using a Table as a Heuristic Tool for Compare and Contrast

Wednesday 4 January 2017 for Periods 5, 6, & 7 and Thursday 5 January 2017 for Periods 1 &  2

Students spent fifteen minutes in vocabulary drills on Membean.

After their vocabulary practice, they created a 3 x 16 table in Google Docs. They titled the first column "Aspect" in the top row, the second column with the name of the animal they had selected in the top row,  the third column with their own name in the top row.

(A heuristic tool is a device used to help an individual discover or learn something for him/herself.  Tables make excellent heuristic tools when using compare and contrast as an organizing pattern.  Remember when one is comparing he/she is discussing similarities and when one is contrasting he/she is discussing differences.)

Mr. Stone read one of his own poems that uses animal imagery as an example.  Mr. Stone's poem centered around a sea urchin.

Mr. Stone also used "Stanley Mouse," the nickname his siblings had given him as a child, to show how aspects of an animal could be compared and contrasted with a human.

The aspect column should include body part words such as face, nose, eyes, lips, legs, height, weight, tail.  The aspect column might also include actions of the animal.

The similarity or difference of the student described in the column headed with his/her name may be literal or metaphoric.  The third column will include both the description of the student for this aspect and an explanation of how the animal and the student are either similar or different in this aspect.  (If a student prefers, he/she may make a fourth column for the explanation of the similarity/difference.)

Students had a minimum of ten minutes in class to work on the table.  Mr. Stone distributed copies of Naomi Rosenberg's "How to tell a Mother Her Child Is Dead."

Homework:  Complete the animal compare and contrast table begun in class if not completed.  Read Naomi Rosenberg's "How to tell a Mother Her Child Is Dead."  (Mr. Stone's suggests students read it twice.  It is quite short.) Student may benefit from discussing this article with their parents if their parents work in a health or human service field.