Visualizing While Reading
Liz Hooper
Paint
Your
Own Picture
Visualizing While Reading
Liz Hooper
Rationale:
Comprehension is an
important part to
becoming a good reader. It helps readers to understand what they are
reading.
One strategy that readers can use to increase comprehension is
visualization.
Visualization is when readers make pictures in their heads about what
they
reading. This lesson is designed to help students increase
comprehension
through visualization. To become a successful reader a child must learn
to
visualize what it is that they are reading. Visualization takes
place
when children make a mental image of what it is that they are
reading. By
visualizing a story you are better able to comprehend the text as well
as fully
enjoy what you are reading. Since the most important goal of
reading is
comprehension, children can visualize what they are reading so that it
more
easily makes sense. This lesson will teach students how to
visualize a
text by drawing pictures of what they see while reading thus promoting
comprehension.
Materials:
A copy of
Where the Wild Things Are
Class set Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith 1989. Pub. Putnam
Juvenile
Colored Pencils
White Paper
Pencils
Rationale:
Procedure:
1.
Review
silent reading
with the students.
Today we are going to talk about visualizing what we are reading, but
first we
have to review silent reading. What is silent reading? That is correct.
Silent
reading is when we read to ourselves quietly and our mouths do not move.
2.
I want
everyone to put
their heads on their desk, relax, close your eyes, and listen to me
very
closely. The sun is shining very bright and it is hot day at the
park.
You run to the swing and swing as high as you can. You get hot and go
get a
cold glass of lemonade. I want you to imagine what is going on in your
picture.
Who is at the park with you? How are feeling? What kinds of smells do
you
smell? Food? What do you hear? Give them ample amount of time to
imagine
their pictures. I want everybody to open their eyes and we will
talk about our
visualizations. Model for the students your visualization to
show
them how to do it effectively. In my picture, I was
at an
amusement park. I got really tired from all of the rides and bought me
something to drink. I could hear people screaming on the roller
coasters and I
could smell the corn dogs, cotton candy, and popcorn in the air. What I
just
showed you is called visualization. Visualization is when you imagine
or see a
picture in your head. It is important to visualize when you are reading
to help
you understand what is going on.
3. Read the story Where the Wild Things Are and hand out paper and pencils. I am going to read
this story aloud to
you but I am not going to show you any pictures. I want you to listen
very
closely to the words I am saying and try to paint a picture in your
head of
what you think is going on. Think about what Max looks like and what
kind of
things he is going to see on his adventure..
(read 8 pages) Ok, now I want you draw a picture on your paper.
Think about
the things you visualized in your head and draw that on paper. These
visualizations are helping you understand the story by picturing the
characters, places, and events in your mind!
4.
Give
everybody a copy of
Chocolate Fever, a pencil and one piece of copy paper. Have the
students to
read chapter 1 of the books silently to themselves. After you have read
chapter one (4
pages), then I want you to draw on your paper a picture of what you
visualized.
Write about your picture at the bottom of the page to help you remember
what it
is about. Pay close attention to adjectives. Remember that
adjectives
are describing words. These words will help you with your pictures. We
will do
this after each chapter. At the end of the book, we will have a
visualization
book or picture book of all the chapters. This lesson will have to
be done
over a course of a week.
5.
Allow
the students to
finish their pictures for chapter 1. I want you to turn
to a neighbor and I want you to talk about
your visualizations. Compare and contrast them to see how they are the
same and
how they are different. Describe what words you used to create your
picture and
what things stuck out in your mind that made you draw the things you
did. Collect
the students’ pictures and keep them so that at the end they can be put
in a
folder together for each student.
6. Assessment: I would
assess the students
by looking at their pictures. I would make sure that their pictures
match the
story and that they are not making it up. Have a checklist for each
chapter
about the important parts such as characters and what happened in each
chapter. Make sure students
are using
descriptive words and are able to rationalize the reasons they drew the
things
they drew.
References:
Sendak,
Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are. Harper
Collins 1988.
Smith,
Robert Kimmel. Chocolate Fever. Putnam
Juvenile. 1989.
Picture
this! Katie Anderson
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/persp/andersonrl.html