What A Wonderful World


Amber Farrulla

Rationale:  Visualization, or imagery, has been proven to improve comprehension skills.  “There is consistent evidence that construction of representational images facilitates children’s learning of text (Pressley, M. Johnson, C. J., Symons. S., McGoldrock, J. A., & Kurity, J. A, p. 9.)”  Children who are taught visualization skills are more likely to understand difficult relationships in a text.  This lesson will provide children with the skills needed to use visualization skills, such as, visualize after you read.  The lesson also allows children to practice visualization skills, as well as summarization skills.   

Materials:

Procedure:
1.  “Before we begin today’s lesson we are going to review what we learned last week.  Does anybody remember what summarization means?  That’s right, it means to pick out and remember the most important parts of a story.  Great!  Today we are going to talk about visualization.  Who knows what visualization means?”  Teacher calls on students and records their definitions on the chalk board.  “When I tried to think of what visualization means I thought of the word visualize, which means to see a picture in your mind.”  We had a lot of good definitions, we are going to leave them on the board in case anybody needs a reminder.  Why do you think visualization is important?  Good.  It is important for us to visualize stories because it helps us understand the story and remember what happened.  It is important for us to read, then use visualization skills.  Does anybody know why?  Because it is hard to read and construct an image at the same time.” 

2.  “I want everyone to close your eyes and pay good attention as I read What A Wonderful World.”  The teacher reads a passage from the song or story.  (Example:  I see trees of green, red roses too.  I see them bloom for me and you.  And I think to myself what a wonderful world.  I see skies of blue and clouds of white.  The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night.  And I think to myself what a wonderful world.).  Next, the teacher gives the children time to create a visualization in their heads.  The teacher explains what what he or she visualized, then allows students to discuss what they visualized.

3.  “Now we are going to try it on our own.  I want everybody to get out the chapter book they are reading.  I want the group reading Sarah, Plain and Tall to read chapter five,  the group reading My Father’s Dragon to read chapter six, and the group reading 26 Fairmount Avenue to read chapter three.”  The teacher gives each child ample time to read their chapter.  Next, the teacher passes out blank printing paper and crayons.  “Now I want everybody to visualize what their chapter was about.  When you are ready I want you to draw what you visualized on the blank paper I passed out.  You may also summarize your chapter at the bottom of your paper.  I think that would be great practice. 

4.  Next, I want the three reading groups to meet and talk about your pictures and your summarizations.  Finally, I would like each group to present their pictures to the class.  Everybody did a great job.”

5.  Assessment:  The teacher calls each student to her desk, individually, and asks them to read the second half of What A Wonderful World (The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky.  Are also on the faces of people going by.  I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do.  They're really saying I love you.  I hear babies crying, I watch them grow.  They'll learn much more than I'll never know.  And I think to myself what a wonderful world.  Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.)  When the student is done reading the teacher gives the child a few minutes to visualize what he or she read.  Next, the student explains what he or she visualizes and summarizes the passage.  The teacher should use a rubric to have documentation.

*Assessments can also be made when the children present their visualization and summary to the class.  Sample assessment questions may include:  Did the child choose the important points of the chapter to summarize and visualize?  Did the child choose the appropriate meaning of the selection or chapter?

References:
Depaola, Tomie. (1999). 26 Fairmount Avenue. Scholastic. New York, NY.

Gannett, Ruth. (1948). My Father’s Dragon. Scholastic. New York, NY.

MacLachlan, Patricia. (1985).  Sarah, Plain and Tall. Scholastic. New York, NY.

Pressley, M. Johnson, C. J., Symons. S., McGoldrock, J. A., & Kurity, J. A.(1989).     Strategies that Improve Children’s Memory and Comprehension of Text.
    The Elementary School Journal, 90, p.9, 10, 11.

Thiele, B., Weiss, G. (1995). What A Wonderful World. Simon and Schuster. New York.
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  Amber Farrulla
Reading To Learn