Reading Strategy Spotlight
• Predicting
• Make Connections
• Analyzing
Making Connections
Learning Goal: I can make meaningful
text to self, text to text, and text to society
connections
Make Connections
People regularly make connections:
For example:
For some, school is like a prison
Lady Gaga reminds me of Madonna
A tornado sounds like a freight train
A crackling fire reminds me of happy childhood memories
Making connections helps you to understand the world around
Select one of the images on the
next slide and make a connection
Does the image: (select one or more)
• relate to one your interests?
• remind you of a time from the past?
• connect to a movie or book?
• remind you of something or someone?
• connect to world events?
Write 3 – 5 sentences about your connection and
be prepared to share your thoughts with the class.
Images
Images
Making Connections to an Opinion
Piece
Key Questions
“What do I know that will help me understand
the author’s opinion?”
“How does what I know help me form my own
opinion on this topic?”
Three different kinds of connections
1. Text to Self (T-S)
Connect to an experience you have had.
2. Text to Text (T-T)
Connect to another text – visual, written,
or spoken.
3. Text to World (T-W)
Connect to an event or issue in the world.
To improve understanding by making
connections
1. Look for ways to connect new ideas to your
background knowledge, other texts, and events
in the world.
2. Focus on making connections to the most
important information in a text, not to
unimportant details.
Practice
Identity” by Julio Naboa.
Let them be as flowers,
always watered, fed, guarded, admired,
but harnessed to a pot of dirt.
I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed,
clinging on cliffs, like an eagle
wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.
To have broken through the surface of
stone,
to live, to feel exposed to the madness
of the vast, eternal sky.
To be swayed by the breezes of an
ancient sea,
carrying my soul, my seed, beyond the
mountains of time
or into the abyss of the bizarre
I'd rather be unseen, and if
then shunned by everyone,
than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,
growing in clusters in the fertile valleys,
where they're praised, handled, and plucked
by greedy, human hands.
I'd rather smell of musty, green stench
than of sweet, fragrant lilac.
If I could stand alone, strong and free,
I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.
Making Connections: Reading
Task
Select ONE of the poems provided and
complete the note-taking chart
Aim to make between 4 – 5 connections and
record them in your chart.
Text to Self Sample
(based on my reading notes)
After reading the poem “Identity” I can make several text-to-self
connections. I agree with the poet’s idea that it is quite rewarding to
“stand alone, strong and free” because there was a time in my life when I
really wanted to be a “weed”. After finishing 17 years of school, I was
tired of being like everyone else and desired to be a person who was
totally free and “clinging on cliffs, like an eagle”. Rather than applying to
Teacher’s College like other graduates, I decided to go to school in
Amboise, France. When school was over, I travelled throughout Europe,
by myself, meeting other students along the way. It turned out to be one
of the best experiences of my life because I answered to no one and was
able to enjoy life to its fullest. One line from the poem that I think reflects
the value of my trip is when the speaker says, “To have broken through
the surface of stone, to live, to feel the madness of the vast, eternal sky”
because it means that if you take risks in your life, it allows you to grow;
this is exactly how I felt after traveling to Europe. Clearly, this is a poem
that connected with me.
Text to Text
(based on my reading notes)
After reading the poem “Identity” it reminded me of the
novel Jake, Reinvented by Gordon Korman. It is because
this novel is also about the value of being independent. In
the book the main character, Jake, really wants to be a
“flower” so that he can date the love of his life, Didi. Later,
his good friend Rick discovers that the people who are the
flowers or “accepted people” are selfish and use each
other to fulfill their own needs. Jake is forced to leave
after confessing to a crime he did not commit. In the end,
Rick realizes that being a weed isn’t such a bad thing after
all – at least he has his dignity. Therefore, I was able to
make text-to-text connections
Text to World
(based on my reading notes)
After reading the poem “Identity”, I began to realize
that most people in the world really are both “flowers”
and “weeds”. Because flowers are “guarded, fed, and
watered” people like that kind of security. It is the
protection that parents and friends provide for people
so that they feel comfortable in life. On the other hand,
these same people probably also have the desire to be
“weeds” because growing into independence is a natural
stage of growth. Many people, once they have the skills
to survive on their own, need to break free to establish
their own identify. In some way it is the same as moving
out the house after finishing school or going off to postsecondary education. As a result, text-to-world
connections can be made.
What are the elements of making a
meaningful written connection to a text?
Success criteria:
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•
•
•
•
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Uses a clear topic sentence that makes the connection
between the text and self, another text or media, and/or
the world
Uses direct references to words/ ideas/ phrases from the
original text
Ideas are developed and meaningful
Ideas are organized and focused on the connection
Sentence structure is correct and varied
Ideas are expressed with correct punctuation,
grammar, capitalization, and spelling