Strategies That Work, Second Edition - Chapter 7

Chapter 7 in Strategies That Work is about teaching students to activate their background knowledge and think about their connections to text so that they can read in a way that allows them to discover deeper insights. The authors suggest that teachers should begin teaching the strategy of making connections by using texts about issues that are highly relevant to students’ lives. This will make this strategy easy to use and teach. In time, students will be able to apply this strategy to texts that describe very different cultures and viewpoints and be able to expand their thinking and understanding beyond the comforts of their homes, schools and local communities. Not only will students have deeper levels of text comprehension, but they will also learn compassion and respect for various cultures and world views. 

In this chapter the authors present a wide-range of lessons for teaching activation of background knowledge and making connections at every grade and ability level. I will focus my summaries and reflections on the lessons that I think would be most applicable to secondary reading classes. 

1. Beginning to Make Connections: It Reminds Me Of… 

To introduce students to connection-making during reading, teachers can model the connections they make as they read aloud to the class and vocalize the connections they make to the text. They can code the text with an “R” for remind, and/or list connections on a two-column chart like the following: 

What the Text Is About	What It Reminds Me Of

What the Text Is About What It Reminds Me Of Teachers may start out with just their own connections, then ask students to contribute their own as they become comfortable doing so. 

2. Distracting Connections 

Teach students to identify distracting connections so that they can redirect their focus on the text. Sometimes a detail from the text reminds us of something that causes our thinking to stray. This can be a problem, especially if your mind is straying but you continue to read. Most likely you will not recall much of what is being read. Teachers can share an example of a text that they have read and a detail that led to such a distraction. Students can probably think of topics that would distract them as well. Remind students that it is important to recognize that they are distracted, pause and refocus their reading. This relates to monitoring comprehension, which was also the topic of the last chapter in Strategies That Work. 

3. Noticing and Thinking About New Learning Recording thoughts about new information learned while reading nonfiction helps students merge their thinking with the text. Students can mark a sticky note with the letter “L” for learn, and then write their reaction to the new information. When students interact with the text while they read, they are much more likely to retain the new information they are learning. 

4. Rethinking Misconceptions: New Information Changes Thinking Often times, students have some background knowledge about a subject, but some of that information may be inaccurate. This is the perfect opportunity to relate background knowledge to new learning while at the same time clearing up misconceptions. Have students create a three-column chart like the following:  

Questions	What We Think We Know	New Learning

This may seem similar to a KWL, but there are a few key differences. Primarily, the difference is that the teacher will provide the questions. Also, the questions will be geared towards topics about which students often have misconceptions. The learning that students gain from this will be more significant because not only are they linking it to previous knowledge, but they are seeing how they are continuing to grow in their knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. I can see this activity being very useful in many content areas and I plan to share this with the teachers at my school. 

5. Building Background Knowledge Based on Personal and Text-to-World Connections Having background knowledge is an important advantage to readers because they can connect the new information they encounter to what they know, and that enhances what they learn and remember from a lesson. After introducing a topic to students, allow them to share their personal background knowledge and connections with the class. Even students who do not have their own previous experience with something can benefit from hearing about their classmates’ experiences. 

6. Building Background Knowledge for Literary Elements Recognizing literary elements can be a challenge for struggling readers. They are often confused by the terminology and struggle to identify various literary devices within texts without significant help from their teacher. Harvey and Goudvis recommend designing instruction around specific elements so that students learn to recognize these features as they make connections across texts. Some suggested groupings include: 

• Genre (fiction, nonfiction, poetry) 
• Format (picture books, novels, nonfiction trade books) 
• Author 
• Text structure (narrative, expository) 
• Signal words 
• Writing style 
• Literary Features (themes, conflicts, settings) 

Chapter 7 also explained what to do when students make connections that do not enhance understanding. Sometimes connections can be purely superficial. For example, students may point out that a character has the same name as them or that a setting is a city that they have visited. Rather than telling students that their thinking “doesn’t matter”, empower them to value their thinking and decide on their own if a connection will actually enhance understanding by having them complete a chart like the following: 

My Connection	Important to Me	Important to Understanding the Text

Remind students that the purpose of making connections to texts is to enhance understanding. Remind students to reflect on the connections they make and to focus on the connections that deepen their comprehension and engagement. 

My Application 

A lesson I used in class last week incorporates several of the strategies that I learned in Chapter 7. It is part of a unit in the Edge textbook on reading short stories. The short stories are also all related by a similar theme – a moment of truth. This allows for students to make connections across texts to better understand literary elements such as theme and the genre of short stories. I begin the lesson by asking students to activate their background knowledge of flashbacks, because that will be one element that will be used in the next story we will read. Students can brainstorm how to recognize flashbacks in movies or television shows, and then we make the connection to the ways authors indicate that a flashback is occurring in a short story. Students enjoyed sharing examples of flashbacks from their favorite shows, and those who were unsure if they were familiar with flashbacks had a much clearer understanding after hearing their classmates’ examples. By the end of the unit I hope that students will be comfortable recognizing the elements of short stories as they are able to make connections between the three short stories that we read.