How To Remember The Difference Between A Simile And A Metaphor

How can I remember the difference between a simile and a metaphor?

With middle school reading comprehension, similes and metaphors are both types of figurative language, this means that they're taking something literal and turning it to something almost poetic. In middle school reading comprehension, metaphors are a literal comparison, meaning "the sky was the ocean." The sky is not actually the ocean, it's a comparison to show how vast and great and powerful the sky is appearing. Similes, on the other hand, are not a direct comparison; it uses "like" or "as", meaning "the sky was as blue as the ocean." Now we're not doing a direct comparison likening the two things as being the same; now they're only similar, which is a slightly less strong comparison but still gives it a poetic feel.