Making Sense of Analogies
While we have been taught to be observant and make connections between objects and concepts, the structure and theory of analogies remains confusing and, for many, a foreign way of thinking. According to Amy Wilding of Lesson Planet, unlocking the connections between analogy word concepts requires the use of prior experiences, knowledge, perceptions, ingenuity, intuition, and logic.
While most students fail to see the need for such a topic, it is, in fact, vital to success in upper level English classes (high school and college), as well as, standardized testing. Additionally, understanding and working with analogies strengthens skills related to the following areas: "perception, comparison, science, mathematics, philosophy, and logic".
Because this concept tends to receive negative feedback from students, Wilding suggests that effective unit lessons "make connections with other relatable skills and content areas" while providing "practical and easy methods to deconstruct the analogy in order to reveal the relationship of the words". In her article, Wilding discusses several lesson ideas for making this unit a success. She includes several ideas for mini-lessons to introduce students to the basics of the material to be covered and four complex lesson plans to teach advanced skills and topics.