Compare and Contrast Text Structure

Compare and Contrast Text Structure Lesson with the selection I Am the Dog I Am the Cat by Donald Hall and Barry Moser. Another selection that works with Compare and Contrast is Rabbit & Squirrel by Kara Lareau.

Before Reading -
Have a chart listing clue words and phrases that signal compare and contrast. The five clue words that seem to be the most useful at first are: both, alike, also, but, and however. Eventually teachers also added these clue words: than, contrast, on the other hand, similar, and compare.

Key questions are:
-What two things is this text about?
-How are they the same?
-How are they different?

Use a graphic organizer to record thinking on (one option is a venn diagram, another is a two column chart).

Build understanding of compare and contrast by discussing the clue words and key questions and the graphic organizer.

During Reading - Read the book (the students read indendently, with a partner, or in triads). While reading the students, read to prove that this text is written in a compare and contrast format. How do they know?

After Reading - Discuss the book in terms of compare and contrast. How do you know that the book is compare and contrast? What clue words signal compare and contrast? In the following sentence, "The dog likes food, but the cat turns up its nose at the food" the clue word is but. The teacher shows several sentences representing the content and has the students identify the clue word. The teacher might list the words or list the information on the chart. The teacher might also help the students write a compare and contrast paragraph to show understanding of the text.

What facts are the same and different? What are you comparing and contrasting? This lesson works with narrative and expository text. This example is narrative structure.

The next day the students read another compare and contrast story and write their paragraphs with less scaffolding and support, unless of course, they need more scaffolding and support!