How can we help students deepen comprehension?

1. Making Connections: a Reading Strategy to Engage Students and Help Make it Stick!Carol WaltersK to 7 District Literacy Resource Teacher

2. How can we help students deepen comprehension? How can we create actively involved, engaged readers?

3. Our focus today (our learning intention) : Making Connections • Look at what research reveals about strategy-based reading instruction, • Examine how it fits with our language arts curriculum and our • learning outcomes, • Define the connection strategy, • Look at the activities that can be used with students.

4. What research says: 1983 study by Pearson & Gallagher The Instruction of Reading Comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8 , 317-344 Students need to be actively involved in tasks as they read. Students need to be metacognitive. email printshop@sd71.bc.ca to order this poster

5. Formative Assessment: which one best describes you? “At the edge” – This is fairly new to me. “Toe dipper”- I’m aware of these strategies, but haven’t used them explicitly with my students. “Wader”- I’ve played around a little with some of the strategies when working with students. “Diving in” – I’ve used many reading strategies and would love to share ideas with others and learn a few more.

8. Literal and Inferential Comprehension Allan boffed the gipple with the giddaff. Who boffed the gipple? What did Allan use to bof the gipple? Were you able to answer those questions without knowing the meaning of some words? Can kids answer questions without fully understanding what they are reading? Why did Allan bof the gipple? What’s a giddaff? What’s a gipple? Why did everyone have a different answer for the last few questions? The research says that rich comprehension always includes our thinking. It goes beyond literal recall.

9. From Adrienne Gear’s P.P. handouts August , 2009

10. How are spider webs like thinking?

11. Grade 3 responses: Flies stick in spider webs. Memories stick in brains.My thinking is like a web. It’s a net that catches anything I see, hear or do.Spider webs connect trees and weeds. My thinking connects my brain to books. My thinking is my own World Wide Web!

12. Connect what they know to what they are coming to know.

13. B.C. Ferries • Craster ·line-ups ·driving up the ramp ·BC burgers ·clam chowder ·playing cards ·watching whales ·stormy weather ·waiting to start my car to disembark ·the children’s play area ·reading ·the announcements ·which deck did I park on? ·Where is the picture of the crab so I can find my car? • my maiden name Schema

14. Schema

15. “The presence of schema increases a reader’s feeling of self-confidence and his willingness to take risks. It enables the reader to remember new information, connecting to what is known. In teaching our readers how to access and activate their personal schema, we boost their chances for meaningful interaction with text.”Tanny McGregor Comprehension Connections: Bridges to Strategic Reading

16. Find your personal “connection” book. Using post-it notes, model your connections with your students. “Taking the time to model your thinking voice when introducing the power of connecting is essential to their understanding.” Adrienne Gear, Reading Power, p. 42

17. … books about family, siblings, friendships, feelings, and memoirs. An ordinary boy goes to school on an ordinary day, and is inspired by a special teacher’s ability to combine music and the imagination. Any book that matches student interests will be perfect. Find a “connection book” for your students. Adrienne Gear suggests:

18. As you read, ask students to share their connections. Afterwards, ask why one person’s connection was different from another?Explain that everyone has different schema so their connections will be different.

19. ~ text to self Three types of Connections: ~ text to text ~ text to world

20. Connections: Text to Self

21. Text to Self BLM pg. 47 from Reading Power

22. Connections: Text to Self

23. Connections: Text to Text

24. Text to Text This book reminds me of other books about childhood experiences.

25. Text to Text

26. Text to Text • Fiction/Non-Fiction • Text to Text Connections

28. Connections: Text to World

29. Text to World This book makes me think about environmental issues.

30. As students share their connections, give them these thinking stems to provide a scaffold.

32. Share comparisons like these with your students. Making Connections Deeper Deep Thinking Connections: Goldilocks sat on a chair. I once sat on a chair and it broke. I thought I was going to get trouble, but my mom just wanted to make sure I was OK. Quick Connections: Goldilocks sat on a chair. Sometimes I sit on a chair!

33. From Adrienne Gear’s P.P. handouts August , 2009

35. Adrienne Gear’s suggested books for independent practise… they must be personally meaningful!

36. Create a collection of books in your classroom that reflect student interests. Have students make connections and share them with others. This could be done in a lit circle format. Create flexible bins. One book that’s great for making connections, may also be perfect for inferring or asking questions etc. So change titles often. When you’ve shared a book, kids want it for themselves.

38. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C93DPf1LWWw

39. Time to make a connection with life outside of school! So let’s try to finish our work day a.s.a.p!