Making Connections During Read Aloud (2024)

FAQs

What is the making connections strategy in reading? ›

Making connections is a reading comprehension strategy that involves linking what is being read (the text) to what is already known (schema, or background knowledge).

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.

The Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World strategy helps students develop the habit of making these connections as they read. When students are given a purpose for their reading, they are able to better comprehend and make meaning of the ideas in the text.

One connection is “text to self.” This is when the reader reads something and is reminded about something in their own life. This can be with the characters, setting or events. Another connection is “text to text.” This connection happens when the text reminds them of another text that they have read.

Making connections is a critical reading comprehension strategy that helps students make meaning of what they are reading. When students make connections to the texts that they are reading, it helps them to make sense of what they read, retain the information better, and engage more with the text itself.

Remind students of the three types of connections: Text-to-Self Connections, Text-to-Text Connections, and Text-to-World Connections (use the linked Making Connections Posters as an aid, if needed) . Explain how readers often make connections to a text to help them better understand the plot/storyline.

Introduce the three types of connections: text-to-self, text-to-text and text-to-world. Read the text aloud. Use the Think Aloud strategy to model one of the three types of connections. Emphasize connections that add to the understanding of this particular text.

Most readers gain insight during reading by thinking about how the information they are reading connects to other familiar text. “This character has the same problem that I read about in a story last year,” would be an example of a text-to-text connection.

Text-to-self connections—where you link what you already know and your personal experiences to new text. Text-to-text connections—where you associate what you've read before with the new text. Text-to-world connections—where you draw on information from the larger world and historical and current events.

Making healthy connections goes beyond simply avoiding feelings of loneliness and isolation. Our relationships impact all dimensions of our well-being, including physical and mental health and our ability to flourish at work and in every other facet of life.

Why is connected text important in reading? ›

Having students read connected text daily, both with and without constructive feedback, facilitates the development of reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension and should begin as soon as students can identify a few words.

Instead, a connection strategy focuses on the events, interactions, and touchpoints that will create meaning for your specific employees. If you're thinking, “But I don't know what my employees want,” you most definitely need a connection strategy.

Definition. The ability to make connections involves a process of connecting prior knowledge to new knowledge and experiences. This process allows students to relate what they read, see, do, and experience to themselves, to the world around them and/or to other things they have read, seen, or experienced previously.

Making Connections helps students to comprehend, analyze, and think critically about fiction and nonfiction texts. The series enables students in grades 1–6 to build meaning through strategies such as, monitoring comprehension, activation of background knowledge, rereading for fluency, summarizing and asking questions.

Reading provides a model for writing. For instance, students might note the features of realistic fiction stories as they read and use those observations to help when writing their own narratives. Reading and writing both help students build their vocabulary.