Reading comes alive when we recognize how the ideas in a text connect to our experiences and beliefs, events happening in the larger world, our understanding of history, and our knowledge of other texts. The Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World strategy helps students develop the habit of making these connections as they read. When students are given a purpose for their reading, they are able to better comprehend and make meaning of the ideas in the text. You can use this strategy with any type of text, historical or literary, and with other media, such as film. It can be used at the beginning, middle, or end of the reading process to get students engaged with a text, to help students understand the text more deeply, or to evaluate students’ understanding of the text.
Students explore the costs and benefits of sharing aspects of their identities, discuss an informational text about “narrative identity,” and apply these concepts to their own original poem.
Students understand news from Myanmar about the persecution of the Rohingya by analyzing a recent New York Times article.
Students consider what happens when one aspect of our identity is privileged above others by society.
Students respond to film clips in which Condoleezza Rice and Deidre Prevett discuss the influences of family, community, and the legacies of older generations on who they are today.