Visualization
Heather Lynch
Visualization
Heather Lynch
Rationale:
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:
Copy of the book Tuck
Everlasting for each student
Poster with sentences about a park written on it: I love to play
at the park. Everytime I go there I play on the swings.
Sometimes I even jump off. The park is fun.
Poster with sentences about the beach written on it: I went to
the beach in June. The beach is very hot. I love the ocean,
because it is cold. The beach is exciting.
Construction Paper (enough for each student, white preferably)
Crayons of Markers (enough for each student)
TV and DVD player
DVD of Tuck
Everlasting
Procedures:
1) Today we are going
to find out how to read to learn. A
strategy that we are going to use is call visualization.
Before discussing visualization talk first
about silent reading. “Does anyone
remember what it means to read silently (give time for response). That’s right to read silently means to read
in your head without moving your lips.
Do you think it is important to read silently?
Yes, because if everyone reads out loud at
the same time then it gets very noisy and confusing.”
Pick two students and have them come up to
the front of the room. Pick a different
page out of Tuck Everlasting for each
child and yourself. “Now we are going to
all read at the same time and I want you to listen and tell me what you
hear.” “Ok let’s read” Read for a few
seconds and then say stop. “Now did
anyone understand what we were saying?
Now I want everyone to read silently for a few seconds. Now stop.
Wasn’t it so much easier to pay attention to what you were
reading
without all that noise? Today we are
going to use our silent reading skills so that we can all visualize
what we are
reading.”
2) “In order to gain
more skill as a reader you have to be able to visualize what you are
reading,
which means to make a picture in your head when you read a story.” Explain to students how you are going to
paint mental pictures in your mind and before they do it on their own
you are
going to show them how to do it. Read the first
set of senetences: I love to play
at the park. Everytime I go there I play on the swings.
Sometimes I even jump off. The park is fun. “Now before
you work on visualization on your own I am going to show you how I
would
visualize myself playing at the park. It
is a warm, sunny summer day and I can feel the wind blowing. It’s not too hot, just warm enough. I see a swing set at the far end of the park
and as I run towards it I feel the breeze blowing against my face and
my hair
flying behind me. When I get to the
swing I sit on the rubber seat, and when I sit down it sags towards the
ground
and I have to grab the cool metal chain links to keep myself from
falling
backwards. As I begin to swing I move my
legs back and forth and I feel the sun on my face and the breeze
blowing as I
swing higher and higher. Then I decide
to jump off, so I put my arms in front of the chain and as soon as I
get to the
very highest point I jump! When I land I
feel the gravel shift beneath my feet, happy to be on the ground.
I never want to leave the park because it is so much fun!"
3) "Now you are going to try and visualize. Everyone
get comfortable in your desk and
close your eyes. We have to be really
quiet in order for this to work. Let's
read these sentences. I went to the beach in June. The
beach is very hot. I love the ocean, because it is cold.
The beach is exciting. Now I want you to use your visualization to
picture what
is going on around you. Did
everyone get a picture of the
beach in their heads?” Model how to form
a visualization of the beach by describing what you saw and have the
children
share something they pictured at the beach.
“It is important for us to visualize what we read because it
helps us to
better comprehend the story by making up pictures to go along with the
words.”
4) “Today we are
going to practice visualizing with our chapter book Tuck
Everlasting. This book
is about a little girl named Winnie Foster and what happens when she
encounters
a family named the Tucks who drank from a magic spring and now
something has
happened to them. To find out what
happens with Winnie and the Tucks we will have to read the book. Now I am going to read the first chapter to
you so that you can practice visualizing.”
Read the first chapter aloud while students listen.
“Did you all get a picture of what was going
on? Who can tell us what they saw?” Call on several students to explain their
ideas. “Isn’t it fun that we can all
read the same thing but get such different ideas? Visualization
is so much fun because we can
make the story our own!”
5) Pass out copies of
Tuck Everlasting, construction paper,
and crayons to each student. “Now I want
everyone to read the next 3 chapters by themselves and don’t forget to
use your
visualization strategies. When you get
done reading I want you to draw a picture of what you imagined. I also want you to write a sentence about the
chapters that you have read.”
6) In order to assess
student’s ability to visualize collect the student’s pictures. Check to make sure that the students know the
setting, characters and main events which will be evident in their
pictures as
well as their written explanation. Base
the student’s grades on their comprehension not artistic ability.
To make sure that they are using the visualization technique ask them
questions from the second and third chapter of Tuck Everlasting that would require
them to have made a mental picture. Questions such as:
Where was Winnie when she saw the frog? When Winnie found a guy
sitting in the forest what was he doing? You can also ask them a
question that is not in the story such as: What did Winnie say
when she found a horse by the road? This way you are checking the
students comprehension as well as trying to conflict with their mental
pictures to make sure that they were paying attention.
References:
Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck
Everlasting. Farrar, Straus, and
Giroux. 1975.
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