Visualizing
What is visualizing?
Visualizing is a strategy where students picture what is happening in a text. This can be done while listening to a read aloud or reading silently. Studies show that proficient readers visualize as they read (Miller & Veatch, 2011), and teaching students to visualize will increase their comprehension. When students visualize, it brings the text to life, like imagining a movie of the story. It is important that students visualize all the senses of the characters to connect to the text (Surbur, 2015). Visualizing a text provides an engaging reading experience that provides readers with the chance to experience what the characters are experiencing. Visualization can be done in many ways. In the beginning, students can be taught to visualize by closing their eyes and picturing the words as a teacher does a read aloud. Another way visualization can be taught is to have the students draw a picture of their visualization of the text. When visualizing, student are actively reading rather than just understanding the content (Park, 2012). This leads students to a deeper level of connection and comprehension to the text and results in longer-term memory of the text. How can I use visualizing in a middle school classroom? Visualizing can be used in a middle school classroom in many ways, and in any content area. In music, this strategy can be adapted to have students listen to a piece of music and illustrate what they are visualizing. In history, students can visualize the text and illustrate the main ideas and details, including labels, to provide multiple strategies for learning. Students can be given the choice of illustrating the main point of the chapter or summarizing it in another way, like Cornell Notes. In English, students can use visualizing as a comprehension strategy in both fiction and non-fiction texts. Visualizing can be used as a whole class activity where the teacher does a read aloud of a passage and students visualize and illustrate their visualization. Another method of using visualization with novels is to have students illustrate their visualization after reading each chapter to allow them time to reflect and analyze what they have read. Eventually, the goal is to give students the skills to visualize automatically while they read, reflecting and gaining a deeper level of understanding while making their reading come to life. |
Above: The above video includes a song that can be used to teach young students to visualize. Though the song is made for children, the simplicity of the words to define visualization can be helpful to middle school students in understanding the abstract concept of visualization. Rather than playing the song repeatedly, middle school teachers could put the words on an anchor chart that is visually available for students to review.
Below: Below, a video explains how visualizing can enhance a reader's experience. This video would be beneficial for students who read quickly and do not stop to visualize that may be struggling with comprehension. With this strategy, students slow down to imagine the text and in turn, comprehension increases. |
Writing Component & Standard
One way that visualization can be used as a writing activity in a middle school classroom is to have every student write a short passage of creative writing in any format they choose or is assigned for them. Next, they can exchange stories with a classmate and read the passage. As they read, they should be visualizing, and after they finish the passage, they can add an illustration to the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for reflection and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. |
Internet Resources
http://study.com/academy/lesson/reading-strategies-using-visualization.html -How to visualize: teaching students to visualize http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/guided-comprehension-visualizing-using-229.html -theory in practice http://www.ohiorc.org/adlit/strategy/strategy_each.aspx?id=000006 -visualization activities http://www.cpalms.org/Public/PreviewResource/Preview/29420 -lesson plan for visualization: for grade 2 but can be adapted to meet any grade or ability level |
Strategy in Practice
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