5.6.E
ELA5th GradeThe student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts.
The Standard
make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students connect details and ideas from a text to their own experiences, other reading, and events or issues in society. They explain how each connection helps them understand the text more deeply.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students identify a relevant link to their life, another text, or a social issue. They cite a detail and explain how the link clarifies a character, event, idea, or theme.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may name a connection that has little to do with the main idea. They may also describe a similarity without explaining how it improves their understanding of the text.
How to Assess It
- Give students a short passage and ask: “What does this remind you of, and how does that connection help you understand the passage?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have students place three colored sticky notes in a passage to mark links to their lives, other texts, and society.
Ask students to write: “Which connection best explains the character’s choice, and what detail supports your thinking?”
Play Connection Sort with prepared cards, and have teams match each text detail to a relevant personal, text, or social connection.
Pair a news article with a story about the same issue, then have students explain one shared idea using evidence from both.
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