Rationale:
Comprehension is an essential component of reading. In order to
be efficient and fluent readers, students must be able to understand
what they are reading. One strategy is representational imagery,
or visualization. This strategy requires students to visualize
each event in the story. This lesson will introduce students to
the idea of visualizing images as they read text in hopes of improving
their comprehension skills. Students will practice this strategy
by visualizing what is going on in poems and other texts and draw their
visualizations.
Materials:
Two pieces of drawing paper per student
one pencil per student; markers
crayons
Settin'
Around by Shel Silverstein (a copy for each student)
chapter book, Sarah Plain and Tall one per student
selection of classroom library books
descriptive paragraph about fall
Procedures:
1. The teacher will review, by modeling, what we do when we read
silently. “Class, I want you to take out your library book
and let’s go over what we need to do when we read silently. Follow me
through these steps; first I want you to quietly whisper to yourself
while you read. Good now stop moving your lips and read to
yourself. Great! It is important that we remember the rules
of silent reading!”
2. Teacher will set up a scenario for the class to visualize, and she
will read the paragraph about fall to the class. “Ok class, I
want you to close your eyes and think about what I am saying. You
are raking all of the leaves in your yard. The leaves are bright
yellow, red, and orange; they must have just fallen from the
trees. It is chilly outside but the sun feels warm. What do
you smell, see, and hear? You begin to get hot raking all of the leaves
so you decide to get a drink of cold water. Once you are through
with your break. You walk back outside and start running towards
the pile of leaves. You get there too late because the neighbors
dog just ran and jumped into the large pile. Red, orange, and
yellow leaves are floating everywhere and scattered all over the
ground. You pick up your rake and start all over again.
What are you feeling? Think about what everything looks like now
compared to before. (Give plenty of time for the students to do
this.) Ok now open your eyes. Did you picture in your heads
what this must have looked like? I pictured myself raking all the
pretty leaves into a neat pile; I imagined what it would be like on a
fall day and to feel the cold air but the warm sun. I think about
the smell of burning leaves and the sound I make when I rake
them. I then imagine being thirsty and what it feels like to take
that drink of cold water and how the glass must have felt. I then
feel running till I am out of breath and the frustration of seeing a
dog ruin my neat piles. Did someone else think of this
differently? Explain? When you see things in your mind it is
called visualization. It is important that as we read we use
visualization to think about what is going on in the story.”
3. Teacher will read a poem to the students and have them
practice what was just modeled. “Now I am going to read a poem to
you. I want you to use your visualization skills, as I read the
story, to picture what is going on. Think about how the character
must look or be acting like as I read the poem. I will be reading the
poem by Shel Silversein called, Settin' Around. Okay everyone close
your eyes and listen as I read.”
4. Teacher asks the students what it is they visualized during the
poem. “Raising your hand tell me what you were seeing when I was
reading the poem. It is okay that as we visualize different parts
of stories or poems that we think about things differently.
Everyone visualizes things differently and that is absolutely
okay! That is one of the things that make reading fun for
everyone! Visualization is a wonderful tool because it allows us
to imaging the illustrations of a story in any way that we
desire. We can create a movie in our minds! Because we are
older now and read many books that do not have illustrations
visualizations helps us to better understand a story!”
5. Teacher will give each student a copy of Sarah Plain and
Tall. They are to read the first chapter and then draw and
illustrate a picture depicting what it is they visualized from the
first chapter. “This is a new book we will be reading in class.
It is about two children, Caleb and Anna that live with their father,
Jacob, on a farm. Their mother died years ago, so for many years
it has just been the children and their father. Well, now their
father wants to find a wife, so he sends an ad out seeking a
wife. Sarah replies to his ad and comes to live with the family
for a short while to see how things work out. Will Sarah stay for
good or will she go back home? We will have to read the book to
find out. Now I would like for you to read the first chapter of
the book silently and then draw a picture of what you visualized while
you were reading.
6. The teacher will split the students up into their
groups. They are to share their illustration of their
visualization and see how it may relate or differ to the others in the
group. “Great job on your picture; listen to my directions before
you move. I now want you to get into your groups and share your
illustration, of your visualization, of the first chapter to the
members of your group. I want you to tell why you drew the
picture and for everyone to see how others may have visualized the
chapter. Alright you may now move to your group.” Over the
next few weeks; the students will read the rest of the book and stop on
every few chapters to illustrate and write a short paragraph depicting
what they visualized.
Assessment:
Once all students are finished, have them come up in front of the class
to display and explain their drawing. Grade them based on the
following checklist:
Student accurately depicted events
Student accurately explained the events in the
chapter
Reference:
Byrd, Sarah. Snap a Picture. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/invent/byrdrl.html
Mac Lachlan, Patricia. Sarah,
Plain and Tall. 1985. New York: Scholastic, Inc
Pressley, M. 1989. Strategies
That Improve Children’s Memory and Comprehension
of Text. The Elementary School
Journal (Vol. 90, Num.1). Illinois: The University of
Chicago.
Silverstein, Shel. Settin'
Around from Falling Up. 1996. New York: Harper Collins.
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