BY SAIMA ABEDI

Creating Connections for Comprehension

Comprehension is “making meaning” of text.

Students find the comprehension difficult to understand when they lack

Comprehension strategiesBackground knowledge A purpose for engaging with the text

Creating connections can assist students in making the meaning of the text.

1. Metacognition

It can be defined as "thinking about thinking.”

Good readers read

and think at the same time.

W³- What? So What? Now What?

Good readers have control over their reading.

Identify where the difficulty occurs

Identify what the difficulty is

Restate the difficult sentence or passage in

their own words

Look back through the text

Look forward in the text for information

that might help them to resolve the difficulty

Thinking

about

our

Thinking

Metacognition

THINKING STEMS

I’m thinking…I’m noticing…I’m wondering…

2. Activating SchemaSchema is the background

knowledge and experience readers bring to the text.

Schema theory explains how our previous experiences, knowledge, emotions, and understandings affect what and how we learn.

(Harvey & Goudvis, 2000).

Activating SchemaGood readers stimulate their schema

before and while reading.

Good readers make connections (text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world) while reading.

Text to Self

These are highly personal

connections that a reader makes

between a piece of reading

material and the reader's own

experiences or life.

“My brother and I were playing

around, when things got out of

hand. As we were wrestling

around on the floor, my foot

kicked the glass table and

smashed it into pieces!”

That Reminds Me……….

Had I ever fought with my siblings?

Had I broken any object?What was that?How did my parents react?

What does this remind me of in my life? 

What is this similar to in my life? 

How is this different from my life? 

Has something like this ever happened

to me?

How does this relate to my life?

What were my feelings when I read this?

Text-to-Self Questions

Text-to-Text

If the readers make a connection

from the story they are reading

to another story they have read,

it is called a text-to-text

connection;

The wizard looked up at the

stars. Surely, the lunar eclipse

was a bad omen! He knew he

had to tell the king quickly

before the marriage ceremony

started.What other texts does this

remind you of?

Have you read a book about a

wizard and astronomy?

What does this remind me of in another book

I’ve read? 

How is this text similar to other things I’ve

read? 

How is this different from other books I’ve

read?

Have I read about something like this before?

Text-to-Text Questions

Text-to-World

If the readers make a

connection to something they

have seen on the news or

experienced by someone they

know has had, it is called

a text-to-world connection.

“Unlike Iraq, which most experts

agreed was five to seven years

away from developing its own

nuclear weapons, there is

broad agreement that North

Korea is only months away”

Text-to-World

America is concerned about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq

United States dropped nuclear bombs in Japan in World War II

Weapons of mass destruction used in Iran–Iraq War

Chemical weapons were a major point of discussion between the Syrian government and world leaders

Text-to-World

What does this remind me of in the real

world?

How is this text similar to things that

happen in the real world? 

How is this different from things that

happen in the real world? 

How did that part relate to the world

around me?

Text-to-World Questions

3. Visualization

“Visualizing is a comprehension

strategy that enables readers to

make the words on a page real

and concrete.”

Gives a clearer picture in mind

Helps to get rid of dullness

Let readers feel the taste, smell,

touch etc.

Makes the text personal or

memorable to the reader.

Visualizing

Picture This!

The powder-white beach slopes gently into the

emerald tropical lagoon. Further out, beyond the

coral reef, a spectacular wedge-shaped, green-

coated island juts out of the deep blue expanse

of the Indian Ocean. The sun gradually sets

behind the island in radiant shades of orange,

red, pink, mauve and purple.

Sketch- to- Stretch

Sketch your response to the story in the box.

Describe your sketch and your reaction to the story .____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

STORY WHEEL

Visualizing

THINKING STEMSI’m picturing…I can imagine…I can feel…see…smell…

taste…touch…hearMy mental images

include…

Create

mental

images

USE YOUR

SENSES

4. Answering QuestionsGive students a purpose for

readingHelp students to think actively as

they readEncourage students to monitor

their comprehensionHelp students to review content

and relate what they have learned to what they already know

Four Different Types of Questions:The Question-Answer Relationship

strategy (QAR) encourages students to learn how to answer questions better.

In the Book In the Head

Right There Author and You

Think and Search

On Your Own

Right There Think & Search

Author & Me

On My Own

What? Where? What examples? What kind of person is?

If you could?

Who? When? What are the three or four…?

What would you do if you..?

Do you Agree with?

Define. Name. What happened before/ after…?

What part of the text made you….?

Have you ever…?

How many….? Why does the… ?

Compare

Where did…?

What will probably…?

What’s your opinion…?

THINKING STEMS

http://www.nbss.ie/sites/default/files/publications/qar_strategy_handout.pdf

Read this paragraph and categorize the following questions.

Sam has lived in Merrytown his entire life; however, tomorrow Sam and his family would be moving to Rosslare. Sam hated the idea of shifting. He would be leaving behind his best friend, Pat. And to make the matter worse, he was moving on his birthday!

5. Questioning

“Questioning is the strategy

that keeps readers engaged.

When readers ask questions,

they clarify understanding and

forge ahead to make meaning.”

Harvey and Goudvis

Good readers ask questions before, during and after reading.

Readers will focus their attention, clarify meaning and have a deeper comprehension level.

By generating questions, students become aware of their understanding of text and they learn to ask questions.

Questioning

QuestioningTHINKING STEMS

I wonder…What if…Why…I don’t understand…It confuses me…How could…

Generate

Questions

Before,

During, and

After Reading

24/7!

Generate

Questions

Before,

During, and

After Reading

24/7!

6.Determining Importance

“Thoughtful readers grasp the

essential ideas and important

information when reading. Readers

must differentiate between less

important ideas and key ideas that are

central to the meaning of the text.”

Harvey and Goudvis

They skim and scan the text.

Good readers think about what information is important to remember.

They use clues the author gives them like headings, bold words, and captions to find important information.

Determining Importance

Use a few words or make

symbols / pictures to represent important

places, people, actions etc.

Coat of Arms

Timeline

Determining Importance

THINKING STEMS

What’s important here…What matters to me…One thing that we

should notice…I want to remember…

It’s interesting that…

What

Matters

Most?

7. Predict and Infer

“Research suggests that when

students make predictions their

understanding increases and they

are more interested in the reading

material.”

Fielding, Anderson, Pearson, Hanson

Predict and InferGood readers make predictions

about text and confirm or reject them as they read on.

Good readers use their schema and the clues in the book to draw conclusions and make their own interpretations.

Predict Prove

Look at this picture and make three predictions about the text you will read.

Predict and Infer

“Eleven” By Sandra Cisneros

"Whose is this?" Mrs. Price says, and she holds the red sweater up in the air for all the class to see. "Whose? It's been sitting in the coatroom for a month."

"Not mine," says everybody. "Not me."

"It has to belong to somebody," Mrs. Price keeps saying, but nobody can remember. It's an ugly sweater with red plastic buttons and a collar and sleeves all stretched out like you could use it for a jump rope. It's maybe a thousand years old and even if it belonged to me I wouldn't say so.

Saldivar says, "I think it belongs to Rachel.

"Of course it's yours," Mrs. Price says. "I remember you wearing it once.”

"Rachel," Mrs. Price says. She says it like she's getting mad. "You put that sweater on right now and no more nonsense."

Today I'm eleven. There's cake Mama's making for tonight, and when Papa comes home from work we'll eat it. There'll be candles and presents and everybody will sing Happy birthday, happy birthday to you, Rachel, but I wish I was anything but eleven, because I want today to be far away already, far away like a runaway balloon, like a tiny o in the sky, so tiny-tiny you have to close your eyes to see it.

InferringTHINKING STEMSMy guess is…Maybe…Perhaps…It could be that…This could mean…I predict…I infer…

schema +

evidence

=

inference

8. Building Conceptual Frameworks

Graphic organizers can help readers focus on concepts and how they are related to other concepts.

Graphic organizers are known by different names, such as maps, webs, graphs, charts, frames, or clusters.

Building Conceptual Frameworks

Building Conceptual Frameworks

Readers use story maps to identify the elements of story (characters, setting, events, problem, resolution).

Story map can assist students organise and comprehend the events of the story.

9. SynthesizingSynthesizing is putting together separate parts into a new whole….a process akin to working a jigsaw puzzle.

Harvey and Goudvis

Good readers retell what they have read as one way to synthesize.

Good readers advocate and criticize books/ text they have read.

Good readers synthesize to create their own interpretation.

Synthesizing

Helping Students Move Beyond the Text

Reexamine

Reconnect

Rethink

• A good end-of-the-study task builds on students’

strengths to express themselves in a variety of

formats.

Poem

Play

Story

Helping Students Move Beyond the Text

“Open-mind" Activity:

Frame Work

Determining

Importance

QuestioningInferring

Visualizing

Synthesis

Sch

em

a

Met

acog

nitio

n

Answering

ReferencesAdler, C.R. (Ed). 2001. Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read, pp. 49-54. National Institute for Literacy. Retrieved Nov. 1, 2007, from http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/reading_first1text.html .

McGregor, T. (2007) Comprehension Connections:Bridges to Strategic Reading. Heinemann: USA

Harvey, S. & Goudvis, A. (2000). Strategies that work: Teaching comprehension to enhance understanding. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

Draper, D. Comprehension Strategies: Making Connections. Retrieved from http://curriculumdepot.wikispaces.com/file/view/Making_Connections_Strateg.pdf on 20th Oct 2013

Draper, D. Comprehension Strategies: Visualising and Visual Literacy . Retrieved from http://www.decd.sa.gov.au/northernadelaide/files/links/4_VisualisingBooklet.pdf on 26th Oct 2013.

Hatzigeorgiou, K. J. Making Connections. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/kjhatzi/making-connections-1926853 on 21st Oct 2013.

Olson, C. B. Interactive Strategies for Teaching Students Response to Literature. Retrieved from http://www.gse.uci.edu/uciwp/documents/eleven_nevada.pdf on 19th October 2013.