EXAMPLES

ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS

NONEXAMPLES

NONESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS

The Frayer Model helps enrich understanding of a word or concept. They are graphic displays that focus attention on explaining the key
components of a student friendly explanation. This strategy encourages students to call on their personal knowledge when understanding new
words. The Frayer Model gives a visual representation of examples vs nonexamples to ensure deeper understanding. It provides students a way
to differentiate between characteristics that define a concept and those that are merely just associated with it.
Steps:
1. Generate pairs of examples and non examples, and share examples with the class.
2. Analyze the examples and start to pick out defining characteristics and characteristics that are nonessential
3. To further establish the concept, may have students worth together to come up with other examples/nonexamples if applicable
4. Have students read a section about the concept using blank frayer models to track key information
5. Have students fill in characteristics that weren't already on their chart
Strengths
-students expand understanding of key vocabulary
-it's a visual representation for those visual learners
-requires students to pull from background knowledge
Weaknesses
-This activity takes a lot of time, and since its vocabulary based, spending a lot of time just to define one word could take away from other topics
that need to be discussed
-along with time it takes practice and repetition

EXAMPLES

ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS

NONEXAMPLES

Parallelogram

NONESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS

EXAMPLES

ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS

NONEXAMPLES

Parallelogram

*Four Sided polygon (quadrilateral)

*Both pairs of opposite sides are Parallel
*Opposite sides are Congruent (equal)
*Has four Vertices (corners)
*Measure of any consecutive angles are called Supplementary
Angles (180 degrees)
* Measure of all four angles = 360 degrees
*Diagonals Bisect each other
*Diagonals create two sets of opposite congruent triangles

NONESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS

*Need more information than just congruency marks

*Actual length of opposite sides
*Actual measure of opposite angles
*Whether any angles are right angles