Stand Out Teaching Strategies: Making Reading Connections Through Text to Self, Text to Text, and Text to World

One of my favorite Reading connection strategies is Text to Self (TTS), Text to Text (TTT), and Text to World (TTW). In this strategy students look for ways to connect with the text through the filter of TTS, TTT, and TTW. I am going to use the abbreviations throughout this post because I have found that becoming familiar and teaching my students the abbreviations is so handy.

In TTS students read books looking for ways to connect it with them. This could be as simple as, "their is a dog in the story and I have a dog" to as complex as, "when the character felt scared I could relate because I felt scared......". This strategy is defiantly the simplest for students to integrate right away.

Examples of prompts are-

How do the ideas in this text relate to your own life, ideas, and experiences?
What I just read reminds me of the time when I....
I agree with or understand what I just read because in my own life.....
I don't agree with what I just read because in my own life.....

In TTT students read books looking for ways this text connects with other texts. The other texts could be other books, poems, articles, webpages, and movies basically anything that was written by someone else. We do this strategy all the time and students seem to really catch on if you make it intentional when you teach it. When I teach this strategy I pick books that can easily be linked to a past book the class loved or a past book that is still recently in their memory.

Examples of prompts are-

The ideas in this text are similar to the ideas in because.....

The ideas in this text are different to the ideas in because.....
How do the ideas in this text remind you of another text, book, poem, song, story, or movie?
What I just read reminds me of because.........

In TTW students read books looking for ways this text connects with the world past, present, or future. I have found that this is the hardest connection for students to make, but one of the most important. Students being able to link things to real life is invaluable.

Examples of prompts are-

What I just read makes me wonder about the future because....
What I just read makes me think about (event from the past or present) because...
How do the ideas in this text relate to the larger world (past, present, or future)?

I learned this strategy so long ago and have been applying it for years that I honestly do not remember where it originated from. One quick internet search produced some information and prompts here. I have used this strategy Kindergarten through 5th grade with Special Education students and students in a Regular Education setting.