How to Play Common Differences Game
Gifted Advisory Activity Using Elimination and Compare/Contrast
Aug 25, 2009
Students in a gifted advisory class may already know each other through class, but an advisory program allows students to know each other on deeper levels. This trust is important to establish because gifted advisory groups are able to work on issue that are particularly important to gifted kids.
Common Differences Game
This game gives students a chance to talk about themselves and find connections with one another, but just as they are comparing their own experiences, they are contrasting their experiences with others.
Setting Up Common Differences
For this activity, it is imperative that the students are randomly placed, because friends will have a distinct advantage over kids who do not know each other well. If two friends are fated to be together, the teacher may insist that they find more common differences, so they will not be tempted to finish early and “act busy” by talking.
Because advisories have limited time, it is best if the teacher has the chart of names already prepared so students know where to sit. They need to sit in two rows across from one another, with a foot or so between pairs. The hallway works well for this activity.
Instructions for Students
When the students are paired and facing each other, they are ready to play. The teacher should tell them that the goal is to find something each pair has in common that no other pair has in common. For example, maybe both people ate the same cereal for breakfast, or both people have grandparents in another country.
Tell students to start talking and finding their commonality that they think will be different from everyone else in the advisory group. They should have a set period of time of about four minutes.
Instructions for Teachers
After the students have talked for about four minutes, go to each pair. If they are ready, then they will tell the teacher what they have in common and the teacher will ask the class to eliminate it. For example, if they both went to Missouri for Spring Break, the teacher will ask the whole advisory, “Did anyone besides these two go to Missouri for Spring Break?” If there is an odd number of students, the “odd man out” can be the person who helps eliminate the differences.
Finishing Common Differences
The goal of every pair is to find something they have in common that other people do not, so anyone who does that has successfully played the game. If everyone reaches that goal, the teacher could set higher goals, such as the pairs who have the most differences, or the funniest differences, or the most unusual differences.
This is a fun way for students to learn details about each other and share experiences at the same time. Since the goal is to focus on common experiences in pairs, communication and non-judgmental sharing is a necessity. Predicting qualities that will survive elimination is a fun skill for gifted kids to get to use with friends.
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