Comparing Structures Across Texts

1. Show only the first words of each paragraph. Text A: "In 1817…", "In the 1860s…", "By the 1870s…", "In 1885…". Text B: "Speed:", "Safety:", "Who could ride:".
2. Ask pairs to name each structure from these alone. Expected: A is chronological (dates in order); B is compare and contrast, organized by feature.
3. Note that both texts are about the same topic — the bicycle — so any difference in what they make easy comes from the arrangement, not the subject.

1. Display Text A. In 1817 the first "running machine" appeared: a wooden frame on two wheels with no pedals; riders pushed along the ground with their feet. In the 1860s pedals were fixed to the front wheel, but iron tires on cobbled streets earned these machines the name "boneshaker." By the 1870s makers had enlarged the front wheel for speed, creating the high-wheeler; riders sat far above the ground, and falls were dangerous. In 1885 the safety bicycle arrived, with two wheels of equal size and a chain driving the back wheel — the shape we ride today.
2. Display Text B. Speed: the high-wheeler was fast because one turn of the pedals turned its huge wheel once; the safety bicycle matched that speed by using a chain. Safety: a high-wheeler rider could be thrown forward over the handlebars, while a safety-bicycle rider sat low enough to put a foot down. Who could ride: high-wheelers were ridden mostly by young, athletic men; safety bicycles were ridden by women, older people and children too.
3. Ask: when were pedals first added? Text A answers in seconds. Text B cannot — it never mentions pedals arriving or the running machine at all.
4. Ask: which was safer, the high-wheeler or the safety bicycle, and why? Text B answers in one paragraph. In Text A you must collect a fact from paragraph 3 and another from paragraph 4 and compare them yourself.
5. Write on the board: Chronological — easy: how it changed over time; hard: comparing two things directly. Compare and contrast — easy: comparing on one feature; hard: knowing what came first and what was left out.
6. Say the point: choosing a structure is choosing what to make hard.

“Text A makes the story easy and the comparison hard. Text B does the opposite. Neither is better — each one decided what you would have to work out for yourself.”

1. Give pairs four question cards: (1) What came between the running machine and the high-wheeler? (2) Who could ride each bicycle? (3) Why was the high-wheeler's front wheel so large? (4) How many years passed between the first running machine and the safety bicycle?
2. Pairs sort each card under the text that answers it faster and write why. Expected: 1 — A (only A has the boneshaker); 2 — B; 3 — both, but B explains it directly; 4 — A (1817 to 1885, 68 years).
3. Each pair writes one sentence per text: This structure makes it easy to ___ but hard to ___.
4. Discuss card 3: when both texts answer, the question becomes which answers it better, and why.

“Do not tell me which text you liked. Tell me which question each one answers fast, and which one it makes you work for.”

1. Students complete the printable structures page alone. Both passages are on the sheet.
2. They must name each structure and give one easy and one hard for each.

1. Ask: if you were writing a guide to choosing a bicycle today, which structure would you use, and what would it make hard? Take two answers.