Making Connections: a Reading Strategy to Engage Students and Help Make it Stick!

Carol WaltersK to 7 District Literacy Resource Teacher

How can we help students deepen comprehension?

How can we create actively involved, engaged readers?

Look at what research reveals about strategy-based reading instruction,

Examine how it fits with our language arts curriculum and ourlearning outcomes,

Define the connection strategy,

Look at the activities that can be used with students.

Our focus today (our learning intention) :

Making Connections

1983 study by Pearson & GallagherThe Instruction of Reading Comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8 , 317-344

Students need to be actively involved in tasks as they read.

Students need to be metacognitive.

What research says:

email printshop@sd71.bc.ca to order this poster

Formative Assessment: which one best describes you?

“At the edge” – This is fairly new to me.

“Toe dipper”- I’m aware of these strategies, but haven’t used them explicitly with my students.

“Wader”- I’ve played around a little with some of the strategies when working with students.

“Diving in” – I’ve used many reading strategies and would love to share ideas with others and learn a few more.

Literal and Inferential Comprehension

Allan boffed the gipple with the gid daff.

Who boffed the gipple?

What did Allan use to bof the gipple?

Were you able to answer those questions without knowing the meaning of some words?

Can kids answer questions without fully understanding what they are reading?

Why did Allan bof the gipple?

What’s a gid daff? What’s a gipple?

Why did everyone have a different answer for the last few questions?

The research says that rich comprehension always includes our thinking. It goes beyond literal recall.

Questions

Quick Questions Deep-Thinking Questions

· literal· quick to ask· quick to answer· usually one correct answer· answer can be found directly in the

text· statement answer· thinking stops

· inferential· answer is not in the text· answer comes from you thinking· not one correct answer· helps us think beyond the story· needs to matter· thinking keeps going

From Adrienne Gear’s P.P. handouts August , 2009

How are spider webs like thinking?

Flies stick in spider webs. Memories stick in brains.

My thinking is like a web. It’s a net that catches anything I see, hear or do.

Spider webs connect trees and weeds. My thinking connects my brain to books.

My thinking is my own World Wide Web!

Grade 3 responses:

Connect what they know to what they are coming to know.

B.C. Ferries CrasterSc

hem

a 

· line-ups· driving up the ramp· BC burgers· clam chowder· playing cards· watching whales· stormy weather· waiting to start my car to disembark· the children’s play area· reading· the announcements· which deck did I park on?· Where is the picture of the crab so I can find my car? 

my maiden name

Sche

ma

“The presence of schema increases a reader’s feeling of self-confidence and his willingness to take risks. It enables the reader to remember new information, connecting to what is known. In teaching our readers how to access and activate their personal schema, we boost their chances for meaningful interaction with text.”

Tanny McGregor Comprehension Connections: Bridges to Strategic Reading

Find your personal “connection” book. Using post-it notes, model your connections with your

students.

“Taking the time to model your thinking voice when introducing the power of connecting is

essential to their understanding.” Adrienne Gear, Reading

Power, p. 42

Find a “connection book” for your students. Adrienne Gear suggests:

… books about family, siblings, friendships, feelings, and

memoirs.

An ordinary boy goes to school on an ordinary day, and is

inspired by a special teacher’s ability to combine music and

the imagination.

Any book that matches student interests will be

perfect.

As you read, ask students to share their connections. Afterwards, ask why one person’s connection was

different from another?

Explain that everyone has different schema so their connections will be

different.

Three types of Connections:

~ text to text

~ text to self

~ text to world

Connections: Text to Self

Text to Self BLM pg. 47 from Reading Power

Connections: Text to Self Name:

Event in the text: My Connections:

 Nancy’s dad brought home a new, red truck. 

My dad always bought used cars. One day when he brought home a nearly new Audi, I nearly died of shock!

Nancy’s dad dumped water down the lane and it took away all the gravel. 

I remember the gravel lane way at the back of our house in Vancouver. It was where the garbage cans were placed. Every once in a while, the city trucks would cover it in a new layer of gravel. 

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Connections: Text to Text

Text to Text

This book reminds me of other books about childhood experiences.

Text

to T

ext

Text

to T

ext

Fiction/Non-FictionText to Text Connections

Name:  

What’s Similar?

First Text: 

Second Text: 

   

 

  

 

 

  

 

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

Connections: Text to World

Text to World

This book makes me think about environmental issues.

As students share their connections, give them these thinking stems to provide a scaffold.

Making Connections Deeper

Quick Connections:

Goldilocks sat on a chair.

Sometimes I sit on a chair!

Deep Thinking Connections:

Goldilocks sat on a chair.

I once sat on a chair and it broke. I thought I was going to get trouble, but my mom just wanted to make sure I was OK.

Share comparisons like these with your students.

DART Questions: Are they Quick or Deep Thinking?Quick Questions Deep-Thinking Questions

· literal· quick to ask· quick to answer· usually one correct answer· answer can be found directly in the

text· statement answer· thinking stops

· inferential· answer is not only in the text· answer also comes from your thinking· not one correct answer· helps us think beyond the story· reflective answer· thinking keeps going

From Adrienne Gear’s P.P. handouts August , 2009

Adrienne Gear’s suggested books for

independent practise

… they must be personally meaningful!

Create a collection of books in your classroom that reflect student interests. Have students make

connections and share them with others. This could be done in a lit

circle format.

Create flexible bins. One book that’s great for making connections, may also be perfect for inferring or asking questions etc. So change titles often.

When you’ve shared a book, kids want it for themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C93DPf1LWWw

Time to make a connection with life outside of school!

So let’s try to finish our work day a.s.a.p!