1. Date and Reflection

The Concept Comparison routine is a great visual tool for teacher to use along with students to graphically depicts key elements of 2 or more concepts and how the concepts are alike/differ which can prompt a deeper understanding of the content area.

Dec. 5, 2018
The Concept Comparison Routine is potentially beneficial for a variety of purposes including teaching new concepts throughout a unit or as a review of concepts recently taught. The Comparison Table should be completed by the teacher in advance of the lesson, then filled in by both the teacher and the students as the concepts are introduced and taught during instruction.  When thinking about the Comparison Table, keep in mind the useful mnemonic, COMPARING, as a reminder of the steps to follow:
C - communicate targeted concepts
O - obtain the overall concepts
M - make lists of known characteristics
P - pin down like characteristics
A - assemble like characteristics
R - record unlike characteristics
I - identify unlike categories
N - nail down a summary
G - go beyond the basics

I am looking forward to working through this routine to design and deliver a successful lesson.

The Concept Comparison Routine is an instructional method that teachers can use to help students understand and master key concepts. As part of the routine, a visual device, called the Comparison Table, is presented to students while the teacher follows a set of Linking Steps, and sequence called Cue-Do-Review. 


An acronym that is used while completing the Comparison Table is as the follows:


C -- Communicate Targeted Concepts

O -- Obtain the Overall Concepts

M -- Make lists of Known Characteristics

P -- Pin down Like Characteristics

A -- Assemble Like Categories

R -- Record Unlike Characteristics

I -- Identify Unlike Categories

N -- Nail Down a Summary

G -- Go Beyond the Basics

I am really looking forward to using the routine and device. It is refreshing to see something beyond a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast concepts and to include a summary in this process.

12/5/18
I attended the SIM training at Pattan Harrisburg with Patty and Diane.  I found developing the like and unlike categories to be the most difficult part of the routine.  While completing this section I had to reevaluate my characteristics to determine if it clarified the or confused the concept.  This process required several revisions to come to a concept comparison that I felt was useful.

Participated in the group activities and presentation. Developed a draft of the concept comparison routine on the two components of SIM-routines and strategies.

The Concept Comparison Routine is a nice way to support students in identifying similarities and differences, and also develop generalizations about those distinctions.

Dec 4 and 5
Concept comparison really help me reinforce how I teach English Learners vocabulary.  I like how we provide language for students to understand the vocabulary and offer them time to expand on the vocabulary words.  

Reflections: The Comparison Routine is very helpful in teaching students compare and contrast between two similar and different concepts.  The comparison routine organizes students thoughts into categories and characteristics and allows for student voice and choice. 

Patty Graner
Diane Gillam

In this session we learned how to implement the Concept Comparison Routine. By following the mnemonic, COMPARING, we learned how to both teach and complete a Concept Comparison Devise.  We started by choosing and Communicating the concepts we would be comparing, next we Obtained a title for the overall concept, then we worked on Making lists of known characteristics, after that we Pinned down like characteristics and Assembled them into groups of like categories, next we Recorded the unlike characteristics and Identified them into groups of unlike categories. In the Final two steps, we Nailed down a summary of the comparisons and developed an extension project for the students to, Go Beyond the Basics.  Now we are ready to take this routine and share it with our identified class.