Rationale: When children
enter third and fourth grades they should have mastered the skills
necessary for reading quickly, automatically, and expressively.
Books in these grades do not have illustrations to accompany the
text. Students are used to seeing their ideas come alive in
pictures. Therefore, when students find that the new books they
are reading do not have pictures, students often become
frustrated. When skillful readers read, they automatically create
images in their heads. Young children usually do this too,
although they may not realize it. This visualization process
helps students comprehend text. Research shows that visualization
helps children’s comprehension, satisfaction, and learning. This
exercise will help children recognize their own visualization process
and how to use it to benefit their reading.
Materials: 30 copies of
C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, writing journals,
crayons, pencils, and checklist for teacher (one for each student)
Procedures:
1. Review silent reading. Does
everyone remember what silent reading is? Silent reading is when
you read without saying the words out loud. Instead, you say them
in your head. It is important so to read silently. If
everyone just to read out loud, no one would be able to pay attention
to what they were reading! Everybody would be very
confused! When you read silently do you ever make a picture in
your brain? Well, today we are going to talk about making
pictures in our brains.
2. I bet when you were
little you read books with pictures in them. Now that you are older,
you read books without pictures! I bet you still draw pictures in
your heads, though! I know I do! If you close your eyes you
can see pictures in your mind; this is called visualization.
Visualization helps us remember what we read. Let's play a
game. I want everyone to close their eyes and visualize, or
picture, this in your mind: (the
teacher will read an excerpt from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
aloud). Can anyone tell me what they saw in their mind as
I read to you?
3. Now I want you to keep
your eyes open while I read another passage. The teacher will read another excerpt
from the book. Did anyone notice any difference in what
they saw in their minds from when you closed your eyes and
listened? I would like a volunteer to share with the rest of the
class what he or she visualized with his or her eyes open as I read
aloud to you?
4. When you read chapter
books without any pictures, this is what you have to do to remember
what you read. When you visualize the story in your mind as you
read, you can comprehend the story better. If it helps you to
close your eyes to visualize the story, then you can take a break at
the end of each chapter in a book to visualize what you have just read.
5. We are going to read
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. The teacher will give a book talk to get
the students interested in the story and pass out copies to each
student. "If everyone has a book, I want each of you to
read the first page silently. Don't forget to visualize what you
are reading!
6. Can anyone describe
what pictures were in his or her head while reading? The teacher can do this exercise a number
of times with the students if she desires. Following each
exercise, the students should share their mental images with the rest
of the class.
7. Now it is time to read
silently. Remember, when we read silently, we don't say the words
out loud. We say them to ourselves. I want everyone
to read the next chapter of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.
8. After everyone has
finished, we are going to do a fun activity that focuses on
imagery. Imagery is creating a picture using very descriptive
words. I want everyone to write down your favorite line of
imagery in the chapter. Be sure to mark the page number beside
your sentence. I want five volunteers to come up and read their
sentences. While they are reading, I want the rest of the class
to sit with their eyes closed and listen to the descriptive words of
the sentences. See what kind of pictures your mind makes!
Assessment: The students
will read (silently) the next chapter in the book. They will
create illustrations of what they pictured as they read that
chapter. The teacher will go around the room and look at the
children's pictures. The teacher should make sure that the
students give the page number. The teacher must make sure that
the students have grasped the idea of the story and how to use
visualization while reading. A checklist, like the one below, may
be used.
Checklist:
1. The illustration
reflects excerpt from book.
2. Child can describe what
he/she visualizes when reading.
3. Child comprehends what
he/she has read by telling me.
Sources:
1. C.S. Lewis. (1998). The
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
2. McClellan,
Jennifer. "What do You See?"
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/chall/mcclellanrl.html
3. Acuff,
Kristin. “Open the Doors to Imagination.”
http://www.auburn.edu/rdggenie/insp/acuffrl.html
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