Jennifer FlotInstructional Project

REED 663Making Connections

Teaching Students to Make Connections

Many strategies can be used to help readers comprehend text, but the schema theory suggest that the basis for all reading comprehension is the connection a reader makes between their prior knowledge and the text being read. We use our schema or background knowledge in order to construct meaning from all new information. Because making connections is believed to be the basis for reading comprehension it is vital for teachers to explicitly teach students how to make meaningful connections. Connections can be made from text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world. Text-to-self connections refer to the connections between the experiences in a person’s life and the text. Text-to-text is the connecting of story structure, grammar, themes and main ideas across texts. The text-to-world connection is the connection of real-world issues with the text such as homelessness, poverty and prejudice.

This instructional project focused on teaching a class of 17 kindergarten students to make self-to-text connections. Three lessons were taught using the gradual release of responsibility model in order to help students begin to make connections independently. A fourth lesson was taught to introduce students to the strategy of making text-to-text connections. I chose to teach students to make self-to-text connections first because thinking about and talking about their own experiences in relationship to the text comes naturally to students. While text-to-text and text-to world connections are more complex.

Using the Gradual Release of Responsibility

Lesson 1• I began by helping students to understand that a self-to-text

connections is when something I read reminds me of something in my prior knowledge (the students have already been taught the term prior knowledge).

• Next, I modeled making self-to-text connections while reading The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant. I modeled by pausing and using think alouds during reading.

• Last, I showed a chart that listed my connections and ask the students if they had any connections to add. While one student made a meaningful connection, most of the students were distracted by the smaller details of the story. They clearly needed the guided instruction that was planned for lesson 2.

Lesson 2• This lesson used the text The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. Before

the text was read I ask the students to close their eyes and picture a time that they played in the snow. This began to activate their prior knowledge.

• The students were given a small dry erase board with three large sticky notes stuck to the back. They used the sticky notes to record their self-to-text connections as we read the story.

• Each time that I stopped reading I modeled one of my connections. Then, the students drew and wrote their connections. I walked around and discussed the connections that they were making each time to help guide their thinking.

Lesson 3• This lesson used the text When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really

Angry… by Molly Bang.• During the read aloud time the students used the “r” hand sign to

show when the story reminded them of a connection.• After the reading the students wrote and drew a self-to-text

connection in their journals.Lesson 4• This lesson moved on to introduce the concept of text-to-text

connections. • We created a Venn Diagram to show the connections between

Oliver Button is a Sissy and Amazing Grace.• The students thought of many connections, but still need more

instruction on this concept.

Lesson Details…Lesson 1Objective: To introduce the concept of text-to-self

connections.The lesson began by talking to the students about their prior knowledge. They have learned this term in previous lessons. They brainstormed and discussed things that they have prior knowledge about. I then told the class that self-to-text connections means that a book reminds you of your prior knowledge. I introduced the book The Relatives Came. I explained that this book reminded me of my Thanksgiving because so many relatives came to my house. As I read the text aloud to the class I used think alouds to model my own connections. The lesson was concluded by reviewing my previously stated connections that were displayed on the interactive white board, and then allowing the students to share their thoughts. I added the students’ first attempts at making connections to the list. The list is seen on the following slide.

Lesson 2Objective: Students will write and draw to

record their self to text connections. In this lesson I read the book A Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. This

story is all about a small boy playing outside in the snow. Prior to reading, the students shared their experiences playing in the snow. I passed out dry erase boards with sticky notes on the back for the students to draw and write about their self-to-text connections. After reading a few pages, I paused to share a connection then used simple words and pictures to record it. The students then used the first sticky note and recorded their connection then shared with a friend. We continued this process throughout the story. The students were very excited to make connections. They were clearly beginning to better understand how to make meaningful connections. I concluded the lesson by helping the students to understand that making these connections helps us to understand the story better. The slides that follow show the students and their work from this lesson.

The kindergarteners workdiligently to record theirself-to-text connections!

Snow and I am jumping in the snow. I made snow angels

I like to sled down a big hill.

When I woke up I saw white hills.Snowball fight

Sledding

Big snow Snowball fight

Snow angel

Lesson 3Objective: Students will write a self-to-text

connection in their journals. The text used for this lesson was When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really

Angry… by Molly Bang. This story is about a little girl who becomes angry when her sister takes her toy. She shows her anger with appropriate and inappropriate actions. This is a story that everyone, especially young children, can make connections with. As I read the story to the class they used the “r” hand sign to show that the story reminded them of something. Several students shared throughout the story. At the end, I modeled writing a self-to-text connection in my journal. The students then wrote and drew about their own connection in their journals. When the journals were completed the students shared their journals with a partner. They were all able to connect with the character in the story and enjoyed sharing about times that they became angry. It was exciting to see the students beginning to make meaningful connections! Examples of several student journal pages from this lesson are on the following slides.

Mom said, “You have to take turns.”

My sister said, “My turn!”

I don’t want my sister to play with my toys.

I kicked the wall and punched the wall.

I get angry when my sister Zoe takes my toys. And my favorite toys.

Lesson 4Objective: The students will make text-to-text

connections between Amazing Grace and Oliver Button is a Sissy.

The book Amazing Grace was read the day before this lesson was taught. After beginning reading the story Oliver Button is a Sissy I paused and told the student that this reminded me of the story that we read the day before. Both characters were told that they could not do the things that they wanted to do. I told the students that this is a text-to-text connection. We paused several times to make other text-to-text connections. After reading the book a Venn Diagram was filled in on the interactive white board using the students’ ideas. The students were able to think of many connections between the stories. I found that the overlap of the circles in the Venn Diagram was not big enough for all the connections that the students thought of.

Relevance I shared the lessons that I wrote with another kindergarten teacher at my school. She

taught all of the lessons and sent me an e-mail attachment with her response. I am copying and pasting her response below.

Lessons written by Jennifer FlotLessons taught by Liz Buecker (Kindergarten teacher) Making Self-to-text ConnectionsLesson1Objective: To introduce the concept of making connectionsThe students enjoyed the lesson. I was surprised that the children did not have more of a

connection to the book. They understood making connections by the end of the lesson but did not relate to the book (The Relatives Came). Next time I think I would choose a different book for this lesson.

Lesson2Objective: Students will use sticky notes to record their self-to-text connections to the book

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.The students loved this lesson. They enjoyed the book and could really relate to the topic,

snow! They did a fantastic job drawing and labeling their connections. This lesson helped them to really have a full understanding of self-to-text connections.

Lesson 3Objective: We will write a self-to-text connection in our journals.The lesson today was very good. I was thrilled with the written connections my class produced.

They listened to the book When Sophie Gets Angry- Really, Really Angry. During the lesson they showed the “r” sign if they had a connection. When the story ended we shared some of our connections. They returned to their seats and drew and wrote about their connections. It was a very good lesson which connected to the prior lessons. After three lessons they are making connections during everything we read.

Lesson 4Objective: We will make text to text connections between Amazing Grace and Oliver Button is a

Sissy.This lesson they struggled just a little in the beginning to make connections between the two texts.

The completed Venn diagram (teachers notes) helped me to coax the first few connections from them. After we got started they began to understand. I read the first book Amazing Grace early in the day, the day before. Next time I will try to read it closer to the lesson. I think this will help the students have a better understanding of text to text connections.

Conclusion:I did see a big difference when you choose a book that sparks their interest. The Snowy Day was

the perfect book. After the first four lessons I feel the students have a good understanding of self to text connections. I would like to do another lesson on text to text connections to make sure they grasp the concept.

Conclusion What surprised me the most when I taught these

lessons was the great thinking and discussions that were generated by the students. The students were able to make meaningful connections and they were very excited about the lessons.

For the future, I would like to create lessons that would give the students more practice making text-to-text connections. The next step would be to teach the students what it means to make text-to-world connections.

Overall, the students did very well with the lessons. I am attaching my lesson plans to assist others in replicating the lessons.