Making ConnectionsPredict and Prove

QuestioningSummarizeInference

Visualization

for Secondary Teachers

Reading is ThinkingReal reading is interacting with the meaning of

the text. The “Super 6” Strategies can help us

demonstrate how readers interact with the words and phrases on the page.

Strong readers don’t consciously think of these strategies while reading, but rather automatically use them.

In order to understand the importance of each of these strategies in the reading process, they will be highlighted individually.

Making Connections

“For readers, there must be a million autobiographies, since we seem to find, in

book after book, the traces of our lives.”

-Stan Persky

What does it mean What does it mean to make connections?to make connections?

All you have ever seen, heard, read, and experienced in your life - your background knowledge- contributes to new understandings. Readers make connections between what they read to:

Their own life (text to self)Other texts (text to text)The world (text to world)

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Know ThyselfKnow Thyself

“Every reader can have a very different experience while reading the same thing. The meaning is intertwined with the meaning you bring to it.” ~Zimmermann and Hutchins, 2003

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“…anything that slides down a mountain or a hillside – rocks, ice, mud – can be called an avalanche.”

“That reminds me of….

Types of Text ConnectionsText to Self

“This reminds me of ...”• a personal experience• someone I know• a personal feeling

Text to Text“This reminds me of ...”

•Character•Setting•Plot•Author

Text to World Connection“This reminds me of…”•recent news story

Let’s give it a try…Text to Self“I thought seriously about walking right

out of that school and not looking back. I mean, what was the point of finishing the year if I was just going to have to do it over again? ”

That reminds me of a time I …

“When Mr. Culpepper, the assistant principal and chief executioner, came in, he did it with a flourish, breathing through his nose and looking like a cross between a really mad Santa Claus and a swishy dragon.” 

This reminds me of the text…because

Let’s give it a try…Text to Text

Let’s give it a try…Text to World“Everyone seemed to look up to that

third-floor window at the same time, stunned by the rat-a-tat-tat-tat of some kind of unidentified series of explosions, and the fracturing sights and sounds of fragmenting glass cascading to the ground.”

Across the Content:Reading

Looks Like/Sounds Like:LaughingCryingSmiling Scowling“This reminds me of the

time… because…”“I know how…feels

because I felt like that when…”

“That was like the other story… by… because…”

Ways to Support Students:Expose students to high-

quality literature.Create text sets for units of

study.Demonstrate through

“think-alouds”.Create an environment

where there are conversations about texts.

Record the thinking created by connections. Utilize response logs/journals.

Across the Content:Math

Looks Like/Sounds Like:ManipulativesGraphic organizersCooperative groups “An octagon has 8 sides and

an octopus has 8 legs so words that begin with “octo-” must have 8 of something.”

“When I got stuck I had to remember my landmark numbers and then used them to help me with my arrays.”

Ways to Support:Create anchor charts with students.

Create text sets around units of study and real-life applications.

Display content area words to show relationships.

Think aloud about how former known concepts connect to new concepts students are learning.

Looks Like/Sounds Like: InvestigationsCooperative learningWriting about connections“The text structure compares

the slow process to fast processes that shape the earth.

“I know that sandpaper used friction to smooth out a sugar cube in our lab. That’s why dad uses sandpaper to smooth rough wood in the story.”

Across the Content:Science

Ways to Support:Create anchor charts as visual

references between topics of study.

Use text sets (books on the same topic) to help build background knowledge and content vocabulary.

Create inquiry experiences and field trips.

Have students record connections across units in a notebook. Utilize graphic organizers.

Resources for developingCreate high-quality

text sets with various formats:

StoriesDramasPoetry InformationalDigital sourcesGraphicsBrochures

Professional Books:Teaching Strategies That

Work, Harvey and Goudvis

Do I Really Have to Teach Reading?, Chris Tovani

Content Comprehension, Grades 6–12 Teaching Reading in Middle School (2nd Edition): A Strategic Approach to Teaching Reading That Improves Comprehension and Thinking, Laura Robb

Home/School Connection:Share the “Super 6” Strategy, Making Connections, with your

students’ caregivers: In your class newsletter/ website On-line (website, blog, etc.) Through notes/ handouts home During conferences (student’s use of, and ways to support at home)

Invite students and parents to share their expertise. By presenting information and forming clubs, the school community can build background knowledge on various topics.

Integrate making connections into nightly reading expectations and provide an opportunity for students to share their strategy application upon returning to school. Send home content-specific reading that parents and kids can read to make connections together.