Analogy Graphic Organizer

• Upper elementary and above
• Expository text
• Assess/develop/activate prior knowledge
• Make comparisons
• Identify similarities and differences
• Link new information to prior knowledge
• Questioning
• Figurative language
• Writing

Strategy Steps:

1. Select a concept familiar to the students that is analogous in certain ways to the new concept. For example, if the new concept is wolf, the analogous, familiar concept might be dog. If older students are preparing to study the progression of the women’s movement in the United States, an analogous, familiar concept to the students might be the Deaf President Now (DPN) movement or the Civil Rights movement in the U. S.

2. Introduce the new concept and have students read and discuss information in the text.
3. Introduce a blank analogy graphic organizer and write the familiar and the new concepts in the appropriate boxes.
4. Students brainstorm similar characteristics of the two concepts; teacher or student writes them in the left column.
5. Students brainstorm the differences between the two concepts and write those in the right column.
6. After the lesson students revisit the graphic organizer, adding or revising the information.
7. Students write a summary describing the new concept using the information on the graphic organizer.