English Language Arts and Reading.3.7.A

The student is expected to

describe personal connections to a variety of sources, including self-selected texts;

TEKS Talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed.

Have students read independently and ask them to identify on sticky notes connections they have made to the text while reading. Pair students up and ask them to share their connections with their partner.

Further Explanation

This assessment example requires students to describe how a text connects to their own life experiences. Students interact with the ideas the text presents, recognize the larger themes, messages and how they can apply the knowledge gained from the text to their lives and the world around them.

When students explain personal connections they have made to something read, heard, or viewed, they are demonstrating how they have interpreted the explicit and implied ideas expressed. Personal connections are students' reactions to an idea. Personal experience can, and often does, influence these reactions. Students should be encouraged to share their reactions orally or in writing.
connections that a reader makes between a piece of reading material and the reader's own experiences or life

Research

1. Gallo, G., & Ness, M. K. (2013). Understanding the Text Genre Preferences of Third-Grade Readers. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 9(2), 110–130. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?q=literary genre in primary grades&pr=on&ft=on&ff1=subElementary School Students&id=EJ1023599

Summary: The study considers the benefits of informational text and the need to increase students' exposure to informational text. 46 third-grade students' attitudes toward information text were explored. Because study findings showed students chose fiction over non-fiction, the researchers suggest how teachers can help students appreciate and select a greater variety of text genres.

2. Zuckerbrod, N. (2019, Spring). The Power of Stories: Develop Social-emotional skills and Empathy using fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Scholastic Teacher, 128(3), 45+. Retrieved from https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A580773753/PROF?u=tea&sid=PROF&xid=b300f1ba

Summary: The author shows the impact that fiction, non-fiction, and poetry have on students in grades 3 through 6, especially when teachers choose texts that resonate with students. Teacher recommendations are provided, along with stories of how teachers help students make the connection from texts to personal experience and to the experiences of others.

3. Scharlach, T. D. (2008). START comprehending: students and teachers actively reading text: the START framework can improve students' reading-comprehension achievement and instruction through the modeling and scaffolding of eight comprehension strategies during teacher read-aloud. The Reading Teacher, 62(1), 20+. Retrieved from https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A185544333/PROF?u=tea&sid=PROF&xid=3a16e02a

Summary: This study included five third grade classrooms and examined classroom instruction designed to use scaffolded reading comprehension strategies. The study gave students the opportunity to select texts and emphasized the importance of self-selected texts for greater gains in reading comprehension.