If you are looking for a way to improve your students’ skills in reading comprehension, attention to detail, vocabulary, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, deductive reasoning, and logic, then analogies are your solution.
In Marzano, Pollock, and Pickering’s book Classroom Instruction That Works, the authors write about nine instructional strategies that significantly affect student achievement. Similarities and Differences is one of those strategies. When you teach similarities and differences, your students are making comparisons. Analogies are perfect for students making comparisons, analyzing relationships, and thinking.
Below you’ll find two resources for your classroom or home. The first is a Types of Analogies table with each type of analogy and an example. The second is matching cards you can use in a variety of ways.