Making Connections Predict and Prove Questioning Summarize Inference Visualization for Secondary Teachers

Reading is Thinking Real 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 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) 4

Know 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,

Let’s give it a try…strategically “…anything that slides down a mountain or a hillside – rocks, ice, mud – can be called an avalanche.” “That reminds me of….

Types of Text Connections Text 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.” Let’s give it a try…Text to Text 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: Laughing Crying Smiling 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: Manipulatives Graphic organizers Cooperative 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: Investigations Cooperative learning Writing 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.

Across the Content: Word Connections

Resources for developing Create high-quality text sets with various formats:text Stories Dramas Poetry Informational Digital sources Graphics Brochures 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.