Students who make connections while reading are better able to understand the text they are reading. It is important for students to draw on their prior knowledge and experiences to connect with the text. Students are thinking when they are connecting, which makes them more engaged in the reading experience.
Reading is not to be a passive activity but rather one which gets the reader involved in the story as he connects to other reading texts, himself, or the world around him. Students are more willing to continue to read if they become active participants in the process.
Text to text, text to self, and text to world are ways for students to connect with the text. Making connections while reading encourages students to ask questions when text is familiar or unfamiliar. It also allows a student to share her knowledge to help another student understand the text.
Reading as thinking is a wonderful way to introduce making connections to a class of students. Often reading is considered passive but when students are thinking, it automatically becomes an active process. Of the three connections, it is best to model text to self first. All students can easily activate prior knowledge about their lives. Next teach text to text and lastly text to world as this is the most difficult for students to comprehend.
Text to Self
Students connect with the text via their own personal experiences or life. Students relate to the literature by a specific experience in their life. Students have been creating life experiences since birth, therefore it is easy for them to activate prior knowledge.
"The text says...this reminds me of..." is a wonderful prompt for a text to self connection. Students simply fill in the blanks. It is best for a teacher to model this and to write this prompt with a sample answer for students to view anytime.
"If that happened to me...I would.." is another text to self prompt for students. This prompt makes a student think if he would do something similar or different than the character.
Text to self connections are made frequently without the student knowing she is making a connection. Readers naturally will begin a dialogue based on a story that relates to their family and experiences.
Text to Text
Students connect to the text in relation to another text. Students make connections from a previous book they have read.
"This book reminds me of (another book) because..." is a good text to text prompt. This prompt makes the student think of another book that has a similar element to the book she is reading. This connection requires more thinking as students have less prior knowledge.
Teachers should model this frequently and relate to books the class has read as a whole and/or incorporate guided reading books. Teachers may stop at a specific point and begin a talk aloud about how it reminds them of a text and mark it with a sticky note.
Text to World
Students connect to the text in relation to the world. They no longer connect with only personal information or experiences. Media such as television, Internet, or movies, is a great way to introduce text to world. Most students will have knowledge of similar media that will allow the teacher to connect with the real world.
"This reminds me of the real world because..." is a good prompt for helping students to make connections with the world. Students need a great deal of modeling because often they will make a text to self connection thinking it is a text to world connection. The key difference is text to self is only about the student while text to world is about everyone outside his small community.
Making connections is one strategy to improve reading comprehension. It is important for students to understand the concept of activating prior knowledge if they are to succeed in this strategy. Making connections is wonderful as it makes the reader active in the reading process.
Debbie DeSpirt - Debbie DeSpirt is an Elementary Teacher for the York Catholic District School Board in Ontario, Canada. Her post secondary education ...
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