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Choose a book that you can make personal connections to, and also a book the students should be able to connect with as well.
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Introduce the lesson by telling the students that good readers think about how books relate to their own life and that this helps good readers understand books better. Tell them that these connections are Text to Self connections.
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Read text of choice aloud, stopping to share connections you can make to model for the students. For example, when I read "Thank You Mr. Falker" by Patricia Polacco, I explain that the character in the book does not like to go to school because she thinks that she is dumb and the other children tease her. I show them that I can connect to this character because I can remember feeling so nervous about going to a meeting and giving a speech that I did not want to go. I focus on how I am able to relate to this character as a person, rather than trying to identify an event that we both experienced exactly the same way.
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I will also explain how this helps me to understand the character better even though we have different personalities and have experienced different situations.
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When the book is completed, have the students share any connections that they can make.
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While reading " No More Dead Dogs" have students use sticky notes to mark areas where they made connections while reading. Also, have them keep an on going list in their Reader's Notebooks.
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