Making Connections
What is 'making connections'?
Making connections to reading a text is a strategy to increase comprehension. Students are asked to make three types of connections to text: text to self, text to text, and text to world. *Text to self connections are connections between the text and something that has happened in the student's life. It is a personal connection and is different for every student. *Text to text connections are connections between the text that is being read with another text the students have already read. This type of connection is commonly connections between the theme, similar characters, or an event that is similar in the two stories. *Text to world connections are connections between the text and something occurring in the world. This can be connections to political or current events that are happening in the US or the world. Making connections to a text broadens students' schema, giving them a deeper level of understanding and increasing comprehension (Parr, 2014). How can I use this strategy in a middle school? Making connections is essential for students of all ages. In elementary school, making connections is modeled during a read aloud and guiding questions are asked of students to elicit answers. In middle school, students often do not get explicit instruction or prompting to make connections to their reading. It is important to remember that all students have unique backgrounds and different life experiences that can be an asset to the class. Students should be encouraged to share text to self connections they are making with texts that the whole class is reading together. According to Lenski (1998), when students are reading a text, they "select, organize, connect, and transform knowledge" by delving deeper into the text and increasing comprehension. Making connection benefits middle school students, and can be done in many ways. First, students can be asked to fill out a graphic organizer detailing how they connect to the text in three ways: text to self, text to text, and text to world. By having students fill out a graphic organizer, the teacher is provided with a formative assessment to track student understanding as well as an opportunity to get to know the students individually on a deeper level. Another way middle school students can use making connections as a comprehension strategy is to use post it notes to mark the text whenever they make a connection to their experiences, another text, or the world. Using post-it notes provides an engaging way for the students to note connections and create a visual representation of the many connections they can make to the text. |
The video above outlines the comprehension strategy of making connections. It explicitly states the three types of connections students can make and prompts students to think about what they have read, researched, experienced, or learned. It provides students a code to use when taking notes on their reading to show what kind of connections students are making to their reading. This video is a great resource for teachers using the making connections strategy in their classroom, as they can show the video to their students as a reminder of the strategy throughout the year. It provides students with examples of connections to make as well as the note taking symbols they need to know to be successful at this strategy.
The video above shows students making connection orally with their classroom teacher. The teacher shows active reading with engagement and making connections to increase comprehension for all students. This video highlights the use of the strategy for English Language Learners, who must make connections in a new language to a new culture they may be unfamiliar with. Comprehension is essential for students, and making connections helps increase comprehension and understanding. This video is relevant as every teacher will have English Language Learners in their classroom at some point. Modeling expressive reading and making connections is an important strategy for middle school learners.
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Writing Component & Standard
Theory suggests common processes operate in reading and writing that are mutually supportive in learning; empirically the relationship between performance in reading and writing is significant. (Parr, 2014) Writing can be used with the making connections strategy to gain comprehension. Students can be asked to elaborate on their connections to a text in the form of a short written essay. With this task, students are asked to clarify the relation ship claims and support it with evidence (CCSS 8-8.1). Their written piece describing the connections between the text and their life, another text, or the world should be written with transitions as they analyze the relationships between the ideas ( CCSS 6-8.2) CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1.C Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.2.C Use appropriate and varied transitions to create cohesion and clarify the relationships among ideas and concepts. |
Internet Resources
http://www.readwritethink.org/professional-development/strategy-guides/making-connections-30659.html -This is a strategy guide with guiding questions to lead students to make connections https://sites.google.com/a/alaska.edu/diane-kardash/Home/making-connections -How to use and assess making connections https://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/literacy/comprehension/making-connections/about-the-program -a making connections program with fiction and non-fiction texts http://www.pspb.org/blueribbon/games/connections/Connection.html -a making connections learning game http://reading.ecb.org/student/connections/mountain/ -into the book making connections |