Click! Creating a Picture From the Text
Reading to Learn Design
Rationale: When
students read text, it is essential that they are able to comprehend it
through
various strategies. One of the most effective strategies is
visualization.
Visualization is being able to picture images from the book in one's
mind as
they read a text. After visualizing material, it makes it easier to
commit it
to memory for later use. In this lesson, we will work on student's
visualization of the text by drawing illustrations.
Materials:
Blank
pieces of paper (1 per student)
Markerboard
and markers
Markers/crayons/colored
pencils
Copies
of the poem "My New School" by Kenn Nesbitt
http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem.aspx?PoemID=487&CategoryID=37
Copies
of the poem "Messy Room" by Shel Silverstein
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/shel_silverstein/poems/14818
Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan (1 copy for each student)
Assessment
Chart: yes or no: attention to detail in illustration? Relate
-Did
they correctly answer comprehension (plot and setting) questions given
on bottom
of page?
Procedure:
1. First, we're
going to
review how to read a sentence with fluency. Write the sentence "Chad
has a
dog." on the board. "First, I am going to read the sentence without
fluency. Ccchhaaadd hhhhaaassss a ddddoooogggg. Next, I am going to
read the
sentence with fluency. Chad…has…a…dog. Do you hear the difference
between
reading with and without fluency?" Read sentence again. "Chad has a
dog. This time I read the sentence with fluency. Remember, the more
that you
read the more fluent you will become.
2. Say: "Today, we
are
going to work on comprehension. Comprehension is very important to be a
successful
reader. Can anyone tell me what comprehension is? That's right. It is
understanding and making sense of what we read. There are many
different
strategies that we use to accomplish this and one of these is
visualization.
Does anyone know what visualization is? Right, it is picturing things.
When you
were younger, all of your books had pictures in them, right? They
helped tell
the story. Now that you are older, a lot of your books do not have
pictures,
but you are still able to picture what is going on in your mind. That
is
visualization."
3. Model
visualization to
students. Say: "I am going to read the poem 'My New School' by Kenn
Nesbitt aloud. As I read, I am going to picture in my mind what is
going on."
Read poem aloud to class. "Ok as I read, I pictured a person with many
different talents like juggling and twisting balloons. I also saw a
person with
different color hair and big floppy shoes. Then, at the end, I found
out that
it was a clown! Now I am actually going to draw this picture on the
board so
that you can see what I was visualizing in my mind." Explain why you
are
drawing what you are drawing as you go.
4. Give each
student a copy
of "Messy Room" by Shel Silverstein. Ask each student to read it
silently
5. Say "Now I am
going
to read the poem aloud. I want you to close your eyes and visualize
what I am
saying as I read." Read poem aloud.
6. Have students
quietly
discuss with their neighbor what they see or picture in their minds.
After a
few minutes, ask for volunteers to share what they imagined the messy
room
looked like.
7. "You are doing a
great job visualizing the poems that we have read! Now we are going to
move on
to a chapter book that does not have any pictures: Esperanza
Rising." Give book talk: "Esperanza Rising is about
a young girl who grows up as a rancher's
daughter in Mexico. After the father suddenly dies, Esperanza and her
mother
are left with nothing so they travel to the United States to find work
and a
new life. Will they be successful? What will happen when they arrive in
America? What type of work will they get? How different will it be from
their
previous life?"
8. Say "Today, I
want
you to read chapter one silently. As you read, use your visualization
strategy
to help you comprehend the story. It is important to picture what is
happening
as you read to help you remember and understand the text."
9. After they read
chapter
one, have the students draw on a piece of paper what they visualized as
they
read. Also write a short description of what they drew and why.
10. I will assess
students
comprehension by their drawings from chapter one as well as their
written
descriptions of their drawing. (i.e. Did it accurately depict a scene
from
chapter one? Is there attention to detail? etc.)
On
the bottom of the page, ask: Where does this chapter take place? Who
are the
characters in it? What are they doing?
Reference:
Lewis, Amy. "Read
It,
Picture It!". http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/odysseys/lewisrl.html
Ryan,
Pam Munoz. Esperanza Rising.
2000.
Nesbitt, Kenn. "My
New
School".
Silverstein, Shel.
"Messy
Room".
Smith, Leah B.
"Picture
It". http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/encounters/smithrl.html
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