![]() But after thinking and talking, we actually came up with several ways Doon was similar to a fork: he can be a bit sharp with his words, like a fork has some sharp parts and Doon is good at trying to solve problems, like a fork is a tool that can help you solve the problem of picking up food. With an analogy, students take an element or idea from the text and compare/contrast it with something seemingly unrelated, from outside of the text.įor example, I'm reading The City of Ember to my third graders, and the other day I stopped and asked my kids, "How is Doon (one of the main characters) like a fork?" Now I got some seriously crooked heads and confused looks at first. I use this strategy more often with literature than informational text. It's only been recently that I've really started using analogies with my students as a means of comparing and contrasting. The following notebook page is one way I've had students organize this strategy in writing. Often, my struggling students will succeed in finding great "everybody" similarities and differences, and my higher students enjoy the challenge of finding the unique "nobody" similarities and differences. ![]() I like this strategy because it has built-in differentiation. So I like to ask students to find a similarity and a difference that everybody would think of, and then find a similarity and a difference that nobody would think of. The "Everybody and Nobody" strategy plays on the idea that some similarities and differences are pretty obvious, and some are not. So here are some ways to compare and contrast two (or more) topics without a Venn Diagram. ![]() But I do want to toss out some alternatives, because in trying to provide students with "vehicles" to tackle this skill of comparing and contrasting, Venn Diagrams will usually take them somewhere, but what follows may take them further, or take them through a different lens, or from a different angle. Now I don't want to come across as totally anti-Venn. ![]() My biggest beefs are (1), that darn middle area is always too awkward or too small to write in, and (2), the outer areas I find difficult to keep organized. But on the other hand, I find them limiting (and sometimes even-GASP-a hindrance) for recording thinking in an organized and deep way. On one hand, I really do like them as a symbol, because it's such a universal sign for comparing and contrasting. ![]()
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