1. Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program RP DP
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
RPDP.net
RPDP Secondary Literacy

2. Reading Strategies Comparison and Contrast
Created by Jill M. Leone Reading Specialist Copyright © 2007
RPDP Secondary Literacy

3. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Today's Objective
We will discuss how to -
apply comparison and contrast strategies
to show how ideas, people, things, and
events are both alike and different.
recognize relationships between word
pairs in selected analogies.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

4. These strategies can be used for both fiction and nonfiction.
All types of reading
These strategies can be used for both fiction and nonfiction.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

5. Can you guess what each of these
women have in common?
RPDP Secondary Literacy

6. You will have to make a comparison.
Writers use this strategy all the time to show how things are alike.
It is also used to show how things are different.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

7. Each one wants to look good. We know this because – one is shopping.
What do our three ladies have in common?
Let's compare.
Each one wants to look good.
We know this because –
one is shopping.
one is at a hair salon.
one is putting on make-up.
They may have many more things in common, but it is clear to us by their actions that each one cares about her appearance.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

8. We can understand country music much better if we think about -
Comparisons help us understand.
Comparsions increase our understanding.
We can understand country music much better if we think about -
how it’s similar to other types of music.
how it’s different from other types of music.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

9. We have already learned that -
Comparison and Contrast
We have already learned that -
Writers are often very thoughtful
of their readers.
They often leave behind clues
to help readers understand.
They use these clue words
and phrases to show both
similarities and differences.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

10. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Comparison Clues
also other, another
identical each
similar both
resembling too
same
as well as
like, likewise
Be sure to look and listen for clue words and phrases that will help alert you to similarities and differences.
Look for clue words!
RPDP Secondary Literacy

11. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Examples
Consuela suffered from acrophobia; her father also had a fear of heights.
Those two brothers really resemble each other.
The design of that vehicle is similar to last year’s model.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

12. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Contrasts
When you make comparisons, remember to also think about how ideas, things, people, or events are different.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

13. although but though yet however while on the contrary unlike
Look for Contrast Clues.
although but
though yet
however while
on the contrary unlike
in contrast opposite
on the other hand
The words but, yet, and however are especially common. Always read carefully when you come to them.
The words but, yet, and however are especially common.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

14. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Examples
When I left my house I had $300, but when I got to my favorite store I was broke.
David really wanted to play football this year. However, he is ineligible because of his low grades.
These little words make all the difference in the world. .Realize how important little words like but and however can be and train yourself to always read carefully after them.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

15. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Examples
Julia wanted to go to the gym, but she had to study for a test.
I planned to get a job this summer. However, I will need to attend summer school to make up two classes.
We need to realize how important a little word like but can be and train ourselves to read very carefully after the word but because everything that follows will be the opposite or totally different from what we read before the but.
THE MOST MISREAD WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGEAGE ARE NOT THE BIG WORDS. WE GENERALLY READ CAREFULLY WHEN WE COME TO THOSE WORDS BUT OFTEN MISS SOME OF THE LITLE WORDS LIKE BUT, NOT, AND EXCEPT, EITHER BECAUSE WE’RE IN A HURRY OR WE JUST TAKE THE LITTLE WORDS FOR GRANTED.
THE END RESULT IS THE SAME = LACK OF COMPREHENSION.
***Students need to realize how important a little word like but can be and train themselves to read very carefully after the word but because everything that follows will be the opposite or totally different from what they read before the but.
THE MOST MISREAD WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGEAGE ARE NOT THE BIG WORDS. STUDENTS GENERALLY READ CAREFULLY WHEN THEY COME TO THOSE WORDS, BUT THEY TEND TO MISS SOME OF THE LITLE WORDS LIKE BUT, NOT, AND EXCEPT, EITHER BECAUSE THEY ARE IN A HURRY OR JUST TAKE THE LITTLE WORDS FOR GRANTED.
These little words make all the difference in the world. Realize how important little words like but and however can be and train yourself to always read carefully after them.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

16. More Clue Words to Help You Understand Differences
more / less
-er words
Let’s look at
a few examples.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

17. bigger than smaller than taller than shorter than
Examples of Words Ending in -er
bigger than smaller than
taller than shorter than
faster than slower than
easier than harder than
RPDP Secondary Literacy

18. How does polluted water compare to clean water?
Example
The world’s water supply is becoming
increasingly polluted. Fish and other living
creatures need clean water to stay alive. When
water becomes polluted, fewer fish are able to
survive. In addition, fewer fish are born in
polluted water than in clean water, which may
ultimately cause the world’s fish population
to dwindle and die out.
How does polluted water compare to clean water?
RPDP Secondary Literacy

19. How does polluted water compare to clean water?
Practice Question
How does polluted water compare to clean water?
More fish are born in polluted water.
More fish are born in clean water.
The same number of fish are born in
clean water as in polluted water.
No one knows if more or fewer
fish are born in polluted water.
How did you do?
RPDP Secondary Literacy

20. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Practice Question
Americans are taller and healthier than ever. Good medical care, good housing, and good food are three important reasons for our generally better health. It is also widely and wrongly believed that we eat more. On the contrary, we eat about one-half pound less per day than we did at the beginning of the century. It is not the amount that we eat, but the better quality of our diet that keeps us healthy.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

21. Practice Question How do we differ from Americans who
lived at the beginning of the century?
We eat more but the quality is worse.
We eat less but the quality is better.
We eat the same amount but the quality is better.
We eat the same amount but the quality is worse.
On the contrary was your clue.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

22. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Practice Question
Americans are taller and healthier than ever. Good medical care, good housing, and good food are three important reasons for our generally better health. It is also widely and wrongly believed that we eat more. On the contrary, we eat about one-half pound less per day than we did at the beginning of the century. It is not the amount that we eat, but the better quality of our diet that keeps us healthy.
The writer has given us 7 clue words and phrases so it’s easy to understand that we actually eat less but the quality is better.
Does this surprise you at all?
Look at your clues.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

23. When making comparisons -
Sometimes your teachers
will identify the items you
must compare and the
characteristics on which
to base your comparison.
Other times, it will be up
to you to choose.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

24. Try using a Venn Diagram.
During or after reading
During or after a lecture
When writing an essay
While studying for a test
Making a decision
Organizing your thoughts
If you don’t want to construct it yourself, just go on the Internet and download one.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

25. C = similarities A & B have in common.
What is a Venn Diagram? C A B
It is used to make a comparison.
A Venn Diagram is one of the easiest and best tools you can use to organize and visualize important ideas when making comparisons. The Venn Diagram is made up of two or more overlapping circles and are really useful for examining similarities and differences in characters, stories, novels, poems, etc.
A and B = differences.
C = similarities A & B have in common.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

26. Venn diagrams are graphic organizers.
                                                      
What's different
What's alike
A Venn diagram is especially helpful when used as a prewriting activity to help you to organize thoughts or textual quotations before writing a compare/contrast essay. It saves time and energy often spent writing down trivial ideas.
What's different
They show both similarities and differences.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

27. #1 #2 #3 To construct a Venn Diagram, just draw 2 overlapping circles:
Put things
both
have in
common
here. #3
Put things that are special about #1 here.
Put things that are special about #2 here.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

28. You can use more than two circles to compare more than two things:
fruits
cereals
vegetables
For information at a glance
If an item falls into all 3 categories, it goes in the middle of the 3 circles (the part where they all overlap each other).
RPDP Secondary Literacy

29. Our world is changing. We have so much new Information,
Why take time to create graphic organizers?
Our world is changing.
We have so much new
Information,
electronic devices
and networks to help
us retrieve it, that we also
need to be good at
other kinds of thinking:
critical thinking.
A tool such as the Venn Diagram forces you to think and ask yourself questions. The more questions you ask about information, the more connections you make in your brain.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

30. To be a critical thinker -
You must be good at noticing and remembering the characteristics of everything around you.
Always make connections about how things are both alike and different.
As a matter of fact, researchers consider the strategies we use to identify similarities and differences to be – “the core of all learning,” as well as being the number one strategy for improving student achievement - in all subject areas and all grade levels.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

31. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Why make connections?
When you ask your brain to think about something, it has to search among the words, pictures, ideas, and facts stored inside.
It’s almost like looking for a piece of paper somewhere in your locker.
This is also true with your brain – your “mental filing cabinet.”
RPDP Secondary Literacy

32. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Get organized!
The more disorganized your locker, the harder it is to find what you’re looking for.
The more organized the content in your brain, the quicker and more efficient you’ll be at finding information.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

33. compares two characters from John Steinbeck’s famous novel
Making a Comparison
Take a look at a
Venn Diagram that
compares two characters
from John Steinbeck’s
famous novel
Of Mice and Men:
George and Lennie.
sinisefans.org/mice
RPDP Secondary Literacy

34. George: small in size, mature, sharp, quick, care taker, long-term
Main Characters in Of Mice and Men
George:
small in size,
mature,
sharp,
quick,
care taker,
long-term
dreams & goals
Both: migrant workers, devoted to each other, want what they don’t have
Lennie:
enormous,
childlike,
mentally slow,
awkward,
helpless,
simple dreams & goals
RPDP Secondary Literacy

35. RPDP Secondary Literacy
The two main characters are so different, yet share the same dreams and devotion to each other.
You can construct a Venn Diagram for any novel or short story you read.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

36. When you study for tests
Create Venn Diagrams
When you read
When you write
When you study for tests
When you think
RPDP Secondary Literacy

37. Good writing doesn’t just happen.
It’s a process which takes -
planning
gathering information
organizing information
prewriting
writing a rough draft
editing and revising
Understanding similarities & differences will help.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

38. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Practice Question
By using yellow, red, and blue – the primary colors - you can make almost any color in the rainbow. You can make purple by a combination of red and blue. Likewise, orange can be made by a mixture of red and yellow.
How are purple and orange similar?
RPDP Secondary Literacy

39. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Practice Question
How are purple and orange similar?
They are both primary colors.
They are both made by combining primary colors.
They are both a mixture of red and yellow.
They are both a mixture of red and blue.
How did you do?
RPDP Secondary Literacy

40. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Practice Question
Tornados usually begin over land. On the
other hand, hurricanes almost never begin
like tornados.
Which statement is most likely?
Tornados and hurricanes begin over land.
Tornados and hurricanes begin over water.
Tornados begin over land, hurricanes over water.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

41. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Practice Question
Tornados usually begin over land. On the
other hand, hurricanes almost never begin
like tornados.
Which statement is most likely?
Tornados and hurricanes begin over land.
Tornados and hurricanes begin over water.
Tornados begin over land, hurricanes over water.
How did you do?
RPDP Secondary Literacy

42. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Analogies
RPDP Secondary Literacy

43. RPDP Secondary Literacy
An analogy is a comparison of two things, stressing their similarities.
Examples:
Morning is to night as beginning is to end.
Old is to young as strong is to weak.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

44. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Analogies
Writers use analogies to help us -
understand relationships
connect ideas.
An analogy starts with a pair of words
that have a particular relationship to
each other.
The first pair of words is followed by a
second pair.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

45. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Analogies
Your job as a reader is to figure out the relationship of the first pair of words.
Then, you apply the same relationship to the second pair of words to complete the analogy.
Huge : enormous as tiny : miniscule.
As a reader, if you stop and think and also use your background knowledge, you will easily be able to figure out the relationships between words.
Writers often use a colon to show an analogy, as we have done for you in this example.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

46. Let’s use the word strong to complete this analogy:
Old is to aged as strong is to powerful.
Powerful also means strong.
It’s easy to see what the relationship is between old and aged. They are synonyms (or have the same meaning).
And we know that powerful also means strong.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

47. Here are more examples: Penny is to dime as dime is to dollar.
Writers use analogies to show relationships.
Here are more examples:
Penny is to dime as dime is to dollar.
Tree is to plant as truck is to vehicle.
Book is to read as song is to listen.
Leaf is to tree as petal is to flower.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

48. Analogies
We can understand that because a penny is one tenth of a dime, a dime would be one tenth of a dollar.
A tree is a type of plant. Therefore, a truck would be a type of vehicle.
Can you figure out the connections between the last two examples?
In the future, try to create your own analogies in order to strengthen your critical thinking skills.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

49. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Practice Question
In the early years of basketball, height was considered unimportant. A 6-foot-tall player was considered to be quite tall, but no one thought that his height made him a more successful player. Today, however, a foot-tall player would be considered too short for professional play Coaches now know that tall players are more successful in the modern game.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

50. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Practice Question
How has the feeling about height changed?
Coaches used to think that height was important. Now, they think it’s unimportant.
Coaches used to think that height was important, and they still do.
Coaches used to think that height was unimportant. Now, they think it’s important.
Coaches used to think that height was unimportant, and they still do.
How did you do?
RPDP Secondary Literacy

51. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Practice Question
The Mayans lived on the Yucatan Peninsula long
before the Europeans came to the Americas.
Writings and physical evidence left by the Mayans
have taught scholars a great deal about their
society. We know that were ruled by a class of
lords. The people they ruled paid a tribute in the
form of goods or services, and every
community had a market where food
and manufactured goods were traded.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

52. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Practice Question
According to the passage, the tribute that
the Mayans paid to the lords is similar to –
a prize
a tax
a calendar
a bank account
How did you do?
RPDP Secondary Literacy

53. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Practice Question
When television was first invented, people feared it
would mark an end to reading, that people would prefer
to sit in front of the TV rather than read newspapers or
books. Contrary to public opinion, people read more
today than before the invention of TV.
How much do people read now compared to before
the invention of television?
People read less than they used to.
People today read more than they used to.
People read about the same as they used to.
The selection does not help us answer this question.
RPDP Secondary Literacy

54. RPDP Secondary Literacy
Practice Question
When television was first invented, people feared it
would mark an end to reading, that people would prefer
to sit in front of the TV rather than read newspapers or
books. Contrary to public opinion, people read more
today than before the invention of TV.
How much do people read now compared to before
the invention of television?
People read less than they used to.
People today read more than they used to.
People read about the same as they used to.
The selection does not help us answer this question.
How did you do?
RPDP Secondary Literacy

55. Today we discussed – Comparison Contrast Venn Diagrams Analogies
Key Stategies and Terms
Today we discussed –
Comparison
Contrast
Venn Diagrams
Analogies
RPDP Secondary Literacy

56. Copyright Notice
Permission is granted to copy (unmodified) all or part of this PowerPoint for educational, personal, non-commercial use off-line as long as the copyright message (Copyright © 2007 by Jill Leone) is maintained on the title page. This material may not
be sold, duplicated on other websites, incorporated in commercial documents or products, or used for promotional purposes.
Copyright © 2007 by Jill M. Leone
RPDP Secondary Literacy