Can You See What You are
Reading?
Reading to Learn
Rationale: A student reads
fluently by reading quickly and automatically, but the difference between a good
and an expert reader is the ability to comprehend what is being read.
Comprehension allows readers to understand what they are reading.
Visualization, or representational imagery, is a comprehension strategy
that takes place when a reader creates mental pictures in their head about the
events taking place in the text. This lesson will teach students to use the
visualization strategy in order to improve comprehension. They will be creating
visual images in their heads from sentences and narratives and then using these
images to convey what they read through drawings and explanations.
Materials:
-A copy of
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No
Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
-Class set of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by
Ronald Dahl
-Copy paper
-Crayons
-Notebook paper
-Pencils
-Poster with vocabulary
words on it: cavity, surprised, terrible, and emotion.
Procedure:
1.First I will review reading silently. “ Who can tell me what silent reading
is? Yes! Silent reading is when we read to ourselves so no one else can hear or
be distracted. When we read no sounds should be coming out of our mouths. Let’s
try!” I will have a sentence strip that I will model reading aloud and then to
myself. “Now you try!” Have the student read a sentence strip first all
together, and then afterwards silently in their heads. Aloud: “This weekend I
will go to the beach and swim in the ocean and build sand castles.” Silently:
(silence).
2.Now I will introduce visualization. “I want everyone to put their heads down
and close their eyes. Listen to the sentence that I’m going to read to you very
closely. ‘It’s was raining outside and the sky was gray. All I could do was sit
inside my house and watch the rainfall, I couldn’t have been any more miserable.
My baby sister was crying, my dad was yelling at me to set the table, and my mom
was cooking some yucky tuna casserole for dinner. Today could not get any
worse.’ Now I want you to picture this story in your head. What are the
characters doing? What do they look like? How are they feeling? What do you
hear? Smell? See?” Have students open their eyes and then I will model what I
visualized. “ In my mental picture I saw a sad boy sitting next to the window,
frowning. He just wanted to be outside playing on his swing set. The baby was
behind him with tears streaming down her face. I could hear the dad yelling and
the dishes clanking. I could smell that fish tuna coming from the kitchen too.
What I just did there was called visualizing. Visualizing is taking what you
hear or read and making a picture in your head so you can almost see what you
are reading. By visualizing you get a better understanding of what is going on
and it also makes reading more fun! When you read I want you to pretend that you
are drawing a picture in your head of what you are reading so you can comprehend
the story. Now you try.
3.”Now we are going to talk about some of the vocabulary words that we will find
in our book that we are about to read.” Hold up the poster with the vocabulary
words and read them aloud to the students (Cavity, surprised, terrible, and
emotion). Then have to students read them back to you. Next explain what the
words mean, in simple language, so that they are able to understand.
Model how to use each word by describing what each word mean and also
doesn’t mean. Have sample questions ready for the students to answer about the
vocabulary words. “If you ate too much candy and you tooth begins to hurt, why
might be wrong with your teeth? For Christmas you get a toy that you never
thought you would ever get, how might you feel? Can someone give me an example
of an emotion?” Once some basic vocabulary has been discussed, now introduce the
book that you will read.
4.”I am going to read to you the first few pages of
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No
Good, Very Bad Day but I am not going to show you the illustrations. Instead
of me showing you the book’s illustrations, you are going to have to create your
own pictures in your head. Listen closely so you know what is going on. Think
about Alexander and what happens to him when he wakes up. Why is he having such
a bad day?” Read the first 4 pages of the book. After reading ask the students
what they visualized. “Raise your hand if you can tell me what you saw in your
mind. What did you hear?” Have a
discussion with the class about the different visualizations and explain that
every one can picture different things while they are reading. “I am going to
pass out paper and crayons and I want you to think about what you visualized in
your head and then draw it out on paper. These visualizations are helping you
understand the story by picturing the characters, places, and events.”
5.Pass out a copy of Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory, paper, pencil, and crayons to each student. “Now you are
going to try visualizing on your own. I want you to read the first chapter of
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, silently like we practiced. After you are
done with the first chapter, use the pictures that you created in your head and
then draw them on your paper with crayons. Under your drawing I want you to
write a short paragraph explaining what you visualized and drew. Don’t forget to
remember those things that you saw, heard, and smelled in your visualizations.
6.”When you are done I want you to get in groups of 3 and talk to each other
about your drawings. Go around and
explain what you drew and also read the paragraph that goes along with your
drawing. See if you can find the similarities and the differences among the 3
drawings. I will walk around to see what is being discussed.
Assessment: I will use the
student’s drawings to assess their visualization and comprehension abilities. I
will check to make sure that their pictures match the stories and that major
points are being depicted. I will also read the paragraphs that go along with
their drawings to make sure that they are accurate in explaining what they
visualized.
References:
Anderson, Katie.
Picture This! The Reading Genie. 2006
Dahl, Ronald.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Penguin Books, 1964.
Voirst, Judith. Alexander and the
Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Aladdin Paperbacks, 1972.
http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba/