Making Connections

Description
Learners make personal connections from the text with:

• Something in their own life (Text to self)
• Another text (Text to text)
• Something occurring in the world (Text to world)

Teaching Ideas

 

Sticky note reading

What is it?
As students read a text they use sticky notes to highlight a range of ideas about what they have read.

How is it done?
As students read a text (Or after they have read a text as a group) Students use sticky notes to move through their reading and highlight the following:

1) An interesting part
2) A part you don't understand
3) A prediction
4) A new fact you learned
5) Your connections to the text
6) Your favourite part
7) A question you might have
8) Thoughts you have about the text

On each sticky note students write the page number and the number or phrase that they addressing.
There needs to be a class discussion and reflection once this is done.
This is a nice simple way for students to be active participants in their own learning.

Materials
Sticky notes
Handouts


Interactive journals

What is it?
Interactive journals engage students in written conversations that facilitate critical/ analytical thinking while casting students as active respondents to writing partners.

How to do it ?  * The teacher writes a question on the board

1.Make a team of 3. Each member folds a piece of paper into 4 quadrants. Label them 1,2,3 and 4

2. Respond to a question by writing your ideas in quadrant 1.

3. Pass your paper to the right. Read quadrant 1 and respond with your own ideas in quadrant 2.

4. Pass the paper to your right. Read quadrant 1 and 2, then respond in quadrant 3.

5. Pass the paper to your right. You should now have your original paper. Read all responses then reflect on all ideas in quadrant 4.  WRITE FIRST TALK LATER!

How did it go?
This lesson was used in and English class. The students were reading a novel, so we took an issue from the novel and discussed it. We used the issue to write a question to begin the exercise. The students were very engaged and enjoyed responding to each other's ideas.

Handy Hints -
Give the students a set time to write each response. One minute worked well. Use a visual timer so the students know how long they have left!

Materials-
Every student needs a blank sheet of A4 paper - USE COLOUR!


K-W-L  Charts

What is it?

 

K-W-L is an activity that is done BEFORE viewing or reading a text. This activity allows the students to reflect on what they already know on a particular topic, what they would like to know and then AFTER reading , students acknowledge what they have learned.

 

 How to do it?

Before reading students fill out the LEFT hand column - WHAT DO I ALREADY KNOW?

 

Before reading students then fill out the MIDDLE column - WHAT DO I WANT TO KNOW (This can either be what they are interested in OR perhaps the student gives them a guided question (s).

 

 

Students then read or view the text and fill out the column on the RIGHT - WHAT HAVE I LEARNED?

 

 

How did it go?

This teaching idea was used in a History lesson that focussed on WW2. Students were surprised at how much they already knew - through the books and films they had already viewed. Students had some interesting  "What I WANT to know" answers - and this lead many of them to want to go and do their own research to find more answers. The AFTER reading section showed the students just how much new information they had taken in.

 

Materials 

K-W-L handouts or can be written in workbook.