What is Making Connections
Debbie Draper, a curriculum consultant for Norther Adelaide, describes the Making Connections strategy as "a strategy that can assist in making meaning from a text. Students can make connections between:
Text-to-self refers to connections made between the text and the reader's personal experiences.
Text-to-text refers to connections made between a text being read and a text that was read previously.
Text-to-world refers to connections made between a text being read and something that occurs in the world.
Harvey and Goudvis provide an exceptional rationale of evidence for this strategy. The explain that our previous experiences, knowledge, and emotions effect what and how we learn. Schema is the background knowledge that we possess from these past experiences and emotions. The continue that good readers utilize prior knowledge and experiences to draw a better understanding from the text and are then able to use prior knowledge to make connections in the text.
Struggling readers often move directly through a text. They rarely stop to consider if the text makes sense based on prior knowledge. They also don't think to use their prior knowledge to help them understand the text better when they find it confusing or challenging.
By teaching students how to connect with their text in a variety of ways, we give students the opportunity to better understand the text (Harvey and Goudvis, 2000)
Using Making Connections in the classroom
To successfully use this strategy, teachers need to commit time to modeling for the students. Students need to see what it looks like to make meaningful connections to the text. The easiest of the three to model is text-to-self. Select that passage that is easily relate-able for the students. Share the passage in class and show them the personal connections you made to the text. A key phrase that promotes text-to-self connections is "this reminds me of...". When students have seen several clear examples of making connections to text, it is a good next step to have them practice with a few selected passages. However, Harvey and Goudvis warn that making connections is not sufficient. Students need to continually analyze how the connections they make are contributing to the understanding of the text. This understanding is the bridge that leads to comprehension. (Harvey and Goudvis, 2000)
Debbie Draper offers an excellent list of questions to ask to assist in students making connections.
Below is a short list from each area. Follow the link to view a full list, as well as similarities and differences to consider as well.
Text-to-self:
What does this remind me of in life?
What is this similar to in my life?
What were my feelings when I read this?
Text-to-text:
What does this remind me of in another book?
How is this text similar to other things I have read?
Have I read about something like this before?
Text-to-world:
What does this remind me of in the real world?
How did that part relate to the world around me?
How is this different from things that happen in the real world?
(Draper, 2010)
Debbie Draper, a curriculum consultant for Norther Adelaide, describes the Making Connections strategy as "a strategy that can assist in making meaning from a text. Students can make connections between:
- Text-to-Self
- Text-to-Text
- Text-to-World " (Draper, 2010)
Text-to-self refers to connections made between the text and the reader's personal experiences.
Text-to-text refers to connections made between a text being read and a text that was read previously.
Text-to-world refers to connections made between a text being read and something that occurs in the world.
Harvey and Goudvis provide an exceptional rationale of evidence for this strategy. The explain that our previous experiences, knowledge, and emotions effect what and how we learn. Schema is the background knowledge that we possess from these past experiences and emotions. The continue that good readers utilize prior knowledge and experiences to draw a better understanding from the text and are then able to use prior knowledge to make connections in the text.
Struggling readers often move directly through a text. They rarely stop to consider if the text makes sense based on prior knowledge. They also don't think to use their prior knowledge to help them understand the text better when they find it confusing or challenging.
By teaching students how to connect with their text in a variety of ways, we give students the opportunity to better understand the text (Harvey and Goudvis, 2000)
Using Making Connections in the classroom
To successfully use this strategy, teachers need to commit time to modeling for the students. Students need to see what it looks like to make meaningful connections to the text. The easiest of the three to model is text-to-self. Select that passage that is easily relate-able for the students. Share the passage in class and show them the personal connections you made to the text. A key phrase that promotes text-to-self connections is "this reminds me of...". When students have seen several clear examples of making connections to text, it is a good next step to have them practice with a few selected passages. However, Harvey and Goudvis warn that making connections is not sufficient. Students need to continually analyze how the connections they make are contributing to the understanding of the text. This understanding is the bridge that leads to comprehension. (Harvey and Goudvis, 2000)
Debbie Draper offers an excellent list of questions to ask to assist in students making connections.
Below is a short list from each area. Follow the link to view a full list, as well as similarities and differences to consider as well.
Text-to-self:
What does this remind me of in life?
What is this similar to in my life?
What were my feelings when I read this?
Text-to-text:
What does this remind me of in another book?
How is this text similar to other things I have read?
Have I read about something like this before?
Text-to-world:
What does this remind me of in the real world?
How did that part relate to the world around me?
How is this different from things that happen in the real world?
(Draper, 2010)
Click on the link to follow to an example lesson for Making Connections used in a real classroom.
Tie it to writing
The Making Connections strategy satisfies the College and Career Readiness Anchor for Writing Standard number two:
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
This strategy utilizes worksheets that not only organize the content, as the standard requires, but it also helps student clearly and accurately articulate the information in the content by forming connections that assist in understanding the text to the fullest degree. Below are several examples of effective worksheets to implement with this strategy.
Watch below to see a classroom using the Making Connections strategy during their quiet reading time. This video provides a great example of the teacher engaging the students in this strategy. Watch her as she guides a young girl toward a connection in a dog book or gives a young boy the opportunity to share with his classmates why they should read his book. The circle sharing time is also a wonderful opportunity to assess children's comprehension of the book. Watch on to see her model connections making for her students.
View this short clip of a teacher modeling Text-to-text connection making by using a diagram and two similar stories her students read. This teacher does a fantastic job of tying Making Connections to the common core standards while engaging the students in a group discussion.
References:
Harvey, S. & Goudvis, A. (2000). Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension to enhance understanding. Portland, ME: Stenhouse
Draper, D. (2010). Comprehension Strategies: Making Connections. Retrieved June 3, 2015.
Harvey, S. & Goudvis, A. (2000). Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension to enhance understanding. Portland, ME: Stenhouse
Draper, D. (2010). Comprehension Strategies: Making Connections. Retrieved June 3, 2015.