Create Sensory Images

reading.

Reading With Meaning

Children explore how

conclusions, and enhance understanding.

read.

writing.

Debbie Miller writes in her Creating Mental Images chapter, “We’ve been

learning how readers and writers create mental images when they read and

write. When we read our poems, we want you to create some mental images,

too. Listen and wait for the pictures to come alive in your minds.”

What’s Key for Kids?

images come from all five senses and the emotions and are anchored in the

reader’s prior knowledge.

comprehension.

interpretations of the text, recall details significant to the text, and recall a text

after it has been read.

detail gives depth and dimension to the reading, engaging the reader more

deeply and making the text more memorable.

incorporate new information in the text and new interpretations as developed

by the reader.

called ”Images are created from readers’ schema and words in the text

(artistic response)”

Choose three or four poems I know children will love. I think about the content of

the poems I choose. Do children have enough schema for the topic? Is the text

clear? Do the poems lend themselves to unique interpretations?

Read the poems several times asking the children to listen carefully and think

about which poem creates the most vivid mental images for you.

Take a copy of the poem you’ve chosen and a piece of drawing paper. Read the

poem to yourself a couple of times. Then capture the image that’s in your head

as best as you can onto paper. Take about ten minutes. Then we’ll share our

work.

The children who choose the same poem, sit together and share with each other.

Our pictures / images are different because our schema is different.

called “Readers create images to form unique interpretations, clarify thinking,

draw conclusions, and enhance understanding (dramatic response).

Dramatizing short pieces of text is another way to engage and teach young

readers about mental images. Place the students in small groups of 3 and 4 and

find a place where there is enough space for them to work together comfortably.

Tell them to close their eyes and listen carefully to the poem I am about to read.

Pay attention to the words in the poem and your schema to create vivid, detailed

images. Teacher reads poem 3-4 times and ask children to think aloud to their

small groups about the images they have created. Now put your thinking

together to create a dramatic interpretation of the poem.

Think about things like:

Children love to choose their own poems or short pieces of text to dramatize and

present to the group. Sometimes the audience tries to guess what the poem is

about; other times one or two children will read the poem while the others act out

their images.

My "anchor" lesson uses "Elbert's Bad Word" by Audrey Wood. First I talked to the kids about

how good readers have a movie going through their heads as they read. They see the people

and places in the book and usually their pictures are based on their own knowledge. For

instance, if the story takes place in a kitchen, the reader will visualize a kitchen they've actually

hadn't been CREATED by me at all, they were just composites of real places I'd been - it was a

light bulb moment!).

Then I make 5 columns on the board and label them with the 5 senses. I read aloud "Elbert"

without showing the pictures and stop to ask kids to share their mental pictures (but since I read

Ginger's post, from now on I'm going to give them paper and have them draw their pictures too -

good idea!). In particular, I have the kids visualize the elegant garden party, which is the setting

for the book. We list what we'd probably see, hear, smell, taste and feel. The kids get pretty

creative with the sounds of quiet music, feel of smooth cut grass, smell of fancy flowers, etc.

When we get to the part about Chives the Butler balancing and then spilling 2 trays of deviled

eggs on one of the party-goers, we stop to describe this and even act it out (this idea was given

to me by a student who improved the butler's actions spontaneously). Talking about what we're

seeing in our heads with this specific character's actions really seems to help those kids who

have problems visualizing.

We continue reading the whole book, visualizing as we go, and then at the end I have them draw

the "bad word" which was described as dark as a small storm cloud with bristly hairs all over it.

Again, it's a specific image that forces them to listen carefully and create a mental image.

On another day I do an activity from "Visualizing and Verbalizing" by Nanci Bell. She has simple

drawings in the back of the book, which I copied and colored and laminated. We then take turns

orally describing the pictures without showing them to the group, allowing the group to form

mental images. The group is encouraged to ask clarifying questions (is the duck BY the water or

IN the water? Is it a VERY young girl or a teenage girl?) The picture is revealed and we discuss

whether our picture matched the actual one. Nanci recommends VERY simple pictures with just

one main object and perhaps a few details.

OK, I know this is long, but I'd like to add one further thing. Earlier this summer I had a pretty

serious bike accident - got a concussion, had amnesia, spent a lot of time staring off into space -

but the most interesting thing (in retrospect) is that I forgot how to comprehend. I could read

words, but couldn't understand what I read beyond very simple sentences. It took me weeks and

weeks to recover, and I made notes about my progress as I went, so that now that I'm almost fully

recovered I understand that one of the HUGE pieces of the puzzle that was missing for me was

visualization. I wasn't able to form pictures in my head to go along with what I read. I didn't have

the mental strength to keep up with what I was reading. I've since realized that many of my

students read just like this, and so I've been convinced of the importance of teaching visualizing

to my struggling readers. I remember being so frustrated about not being able to read, and

feeling horrified that it might stay that way. But for some kids it is that way all the time.

Heather Wall

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Pairs Discussing the Pictures They See When the Pictures are not shown to the students

pictures we got as the story was read. We didn't show the pictures to the students. The kids

were amazed that two adults would sit and talk about this. We then asked the kids to work in

pairs to talk about pictures they "saw" when they heard the story. We returned to the large group

and several volunteers shared different pictures. I had wondered if the kids would copy some of

our pictures, but this only happened in a few cases.

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I reread a particularly descriptive part of the section they are illustrating, several times as they

draw. This helps develop their ideas and take on more of what the author is saying. As a follow

up activity the kids write a sentence/paragraph about their drawings. They can alter the story line

if they wish. Great for reluctant writers as it provides scaffolding for them but allows room for

innovation.

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Perhaps your strategy study of visualizing will help you in this area as well. I don't think everyone

sees pictures in their minds and that doesn't need to be the way you present it. Basically I

choose text that has very descriptive language and do a read aloud. After reading I have the

children sketch what they think it would look like. This way, even if they didn't get a mental

picture, they now have a tangible one. Poetry works well for this. We read a Jack Prelutsky piece

and the kids sketched what they visualized. We then shared them and noticed that they were all

very similar. The author they were told did a good job describing what he wanted us to visualize

since we were able to sketch it. Don't show them any pictures when you read, rather wait until

after you share their sketches.

purchase. Same idea, read it aloud and have them sketch the chair. I don't focus on "picture" in

my mind when I teach this. I focus more on the words that help me know what the author is

describing. Here We All Are, Tomie DePaola has good descriptions as well. A final book that

Visualizing doesn't have to be about seeing a real movie in the mind, or a picture. It can be about

the language in a book that helps you see what the author is describing. If the author has done a

good job of describing you should be able to sketch what he/she wanted you to see. Most of the

sketches will be similar if the description is good.