Arrival · retrieve

Two groups can do the same thing

Lots of groups of people do things that look alike.

They light a light. They share food. They keep a quiet day.

Looking alike does not mean they mean the same thing by it.

It also does not mean they mean something different.

The only way to know is to read what each group says.

So today you match the pictures first, and then read the reasons.

You need the practice card pack, the matching mat, and the record sheet.

There are twelve cards in the pack this term. Six of them are pictures and six are reasons.

Every picture has one reason that goes with it, and it is written on the back.

Nobody has to guess. Guessing about what people believe is the thing this lesson is built to stop.

You will match three pairs today. Next week the pack changes and you match three more.

Some pairs are easy to see and some are not. Both kinds count the same.

Nobody in this room has to know anything about any of these groups to do this task.

Everything you need is on the cards and it is written in short sentences.

Starter · create the need

Two people light a candle

Here is a card of somebody lighting a candle.

Here is another card of somebody lighting a candle.

The pictures look nearly the same.

One card says the light is a way of remembering someone.

The other card says the light stands for a story about a lamp that did not go out.

Same thing, two reasons. That is the whole lesson in one pair.

• 1 · find the pair that looks alike.
• 2 · say what is the same.
• 3 · read both reasons.
• 4 · write one reason from each.

Look at both candle pictures again and say one thing that is different about them.

The hands are different. The room is different. The candle itself is a different shape.

None of those differences tell you the reason. Only the writing does.

That is why we always turn the card over, even when we think we already know.

I Do · model

Matching one pair, then reading

I look at all the pictures first, without reading anything.

I find two that show people sharing a meal. That is my first pair.

What is the same? Both cards show a table, food, and more than one person.

I write that down before I read a single reason.

Now I turn both cards over and read.

The first says the meal remembers a night from a long time ago.

The second says the meal is a thank you at the end of a week.

Both are about a meal. Neither reason is the other one.

Watch me look at all six before I pick any two. Picking the first two that catch my eye is how a pair goes wrong.

I also say what is the same out loud before I write it, because saying it makes the vague ones obvious.

If I cannot say what is the same in one short sentence, the pair is probably not a pair.

We Do · everyone commits

Sort the pictures

Six picture cards are on your table. Sort them into three pairs.

Do not turn any of them over yet.

Sort them by what people are doing, not by who is in the picture.

Then say, for one pair, what is the same about the two.

When your table has three pairs, hold up the pair you were least sure about.

Two of the six pictures could go with either of two others. Pick one and be ready to say why.

There is no trick here. More than one answer can be right, as long as you can say what is the same.

If your table gets three pairs quickly, check the two you found last. Those are usually the ones to look at again.

I Do 2 · connect

Different reasons is not a problem

Sometimes people expect that if two groups do the same thing, they must mean the same thing.

When it turns out they do not, that can feel like one of them is wrong.

Neither of them is wrong about their own reason.

A group is the best source for what a group means by what it does.

So write both reasons down as the cards give them.

You do not have to decide between them. Nobody is asking you to.

Write the group's name next to each reason, so it is clear whose reason it is.

A reason with no group next to it turns into a fact about everybody, which it is not.

Nobody speaks for a whole religion, and the cards do not claim to either.

Each card says what one group says, and that is exactly as much as we write down.

We Do 2 · lab

Read me the two reasons

Work in twos. Take one of your pairs.

One of you reads the first reason and the other reads the second.

Then both say, together, what is the same about the pair.

If you disagree about what is the same, look at the pictures again, not at the reasons.

Then take a different pair and do it again.

Read the reason exactly as it is written the first time. Say it your way afterwards.

Doing it in that order is how you find out whether you understood it.

Independent · evidence

Three pairs on the sheet

Work on your own. Write your three pairs on the sheet.

For each pair, write one sentence saying what is the same.

Then write one reason from the first card and one from the second.

Use the words on the card, said your way.

If you finish early, say which pair surprised you most, and why.

• Supported · two pairs matched, with what is the same said aloud.
• Standard · three pairs matched, each with what is the same and one reason from each card.
• Stretch · as Standard, and say which pair surprised you most, and why.

Number your pairs one, two and three so the sentences and the reasons stay together.

Write the group's name at the start of each reason.

If two of your pairs are about the same thing, swap one and find a different pair.

Three pairs about food is really one pair, done three times.

Read your sentence back before you move to the next pair. A vague one is easiest to catch straight after writing it.

Exit · Audience and Influence

Read one pair to an adult

Choose your clearest pair and read it to the adult at your table.

Say what is the same first, then the two reasons.

They read it back exactly as you said it.

If that is not what you meant, say it again and they write the new one.

Then choose what happens next: keep the sheet, find a fourth pair, or write your question down.

Your choice goes on the sheet before you leave.

The cards go back in the pack face up, in the order they came out.

The sheet goes in your folder with the date on the top line.