Teaching Students to Visualize

1. Teaching Students to Visualize Amy E. SnyderTowson University REED 663Dr. PitcherDecember 7, 2010

2. Visualizing • Teaching students to visualize will enhance their comprehension of text. • Visualizing is similar to creating a movie in the mind to add details to what is being read. • Being able to visualize effectively will increase the ability for the reader to become proficient. • Teaching students to visualize can be done explicitly so that the skill will be internalized and used for the life of the reader.

3. Students • The students were four third graders who stayed after school to participate. • All were excited to be a part of the group who stayed after school. • There were no distractions during the lessons. • The students were focused and engaged as they worked.

4. Outline of Sessions • Day 1: First read of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe with explicit teaching and discussion of how to visualize • Day 2: Second read of Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe with student-centered activity • Day 3: First read of Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema with explicit teaching and discussion of how to visualize • Day 4: Second read of Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema with student-centered activity

5. First book studyMufaro’s Beautiful Daughtersby John Steptoe

6. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughtersby John Steptoe • This story is an African Tale very similar to the American Cinderella story. The story has an evil sister and a good sister who both want to marry a prince. The prince is able to change form and he witnesses the true personalities of both sisters. The prince chooses the good sister and they live happily ever after. • The text contains vivid language that enables a reader to create pictures in the mind. The illustrations are also very detailed and help the reader connect personal images to the illustrator’s images. • This story is also a great way to encourage readers to make text-to-text connections.

7. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughtersby John Steptoe • Day 1 • The teacher activated students’ prior knowledge by discussing the story of Cinderella and the evil step sisters. Students shared their personal knowledge and connections to Cinderella. The students were asked to keep the story of Cinderella in their minds as the story was being read. • The teacher read the story aloud and paused at key moments to have students visualize and discuss the illustrations. Students also independently made connections during these short pauses. • When the read aloud was finished the discussion continued. The discussion was now more directed by the students than the teacher. The students shared what they remembered from the story and discussed how the events were similar to Cinderella.

8. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughtersby John Steptoe • Day 2 • The lesson began with a teacher directed discussion about the first read of the story. Students shared what they remembered about the story. • The story was read aloud again. The discussion continued about how the prince became a snake, an old woman, and a young boy, and why he did so.

9. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughtersby John Steptoe • Day 2 continued… • When the story was finished the teacher used the Think Aloud strategy to talk through how images are symbolic. • The teacher continued the lesson by modeling how to draw a symbolic image. The teacher said “I believe I am a strong person. I know that rhinos are strong too.” • The teacher drew a picture of a rhino to demonstrate. Then, the students were released to complete their own personal image. • Two students needed further assistance, which was provided by the teacher.

10. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughtersby John Steptoe • Gradual Release of Responsibility • The teacher began discussion about the story while reading and then released the responsibility to the students. When the read aloud was finished, the students discussed the events of the story and were heard saying such things as…“The good sister is just like Cinderella.” and “The bad sister has a temper.” • The students used their prior knowledge and images from Cinderella to add details to the discussion. After viewing an illustration of the evil sister getting mad, one student referenced a personal experience about people with tempers.

11. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughtersby John Steptoe • Gradual Release of Responsibility • The teacher began the activity using the Think Aloud Strategy. The teacher modeled how to draw the symbolic image and explained why the image had been chosen. When the teacher had finished, the students were released to complete the task independently. • Two students completed the task independently and explained why the image was chosen. • Two other students received further instruction and guidance until an image was created.

12. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughtersby John Steptoe • Results • Students were actively engaged in the discussion and read aloud. • The images created by the students were symbolic of each individual student. • Two images, the cat and the flower, contained personal details within the image. • The two other images, the cheetah and the mountain, could have benefited from more personal details.

13. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughtersby John Steptoe • Teacher Modeled Work Teacher used the Think Aloud process as she created this image. The teacher discussed why she chose the rhino and other images that could have been drawn, such as a mountain.

14. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughtersby John Steptoe • Student Work Student came up with the above image independently and explained why she chose the cat. Student came up with the above image after a few questions, to stimulate thinking, from the teacher

15. Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughtersby John Steptoe • Student Work Student came up with the above image independently and explained why she chose the flower. Student used an example given by the teacher.

16. Second book studyWhy Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Earsby Verna Aardema

17. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Earsby Verna Aardema • This story is an African Folktale about a pesky mosquito who tells a lie. This lie escalates into a series of events that leads to an owlet dying. The mother owl is so upset that she does not “call the sun” to rise, so everything remains dark. The King Lion listens to the characters’ stories and decides to punish the mosquito, who is nowhere to be found. • This text contains vivid language and illustrations to help the reader visualize the events happening. • Students are able to make personal connections with annoying mosquitoes and other animals within the story.

18. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Earsby Verna Aardema • Day 1 • The teacher activated students’ prior knowledge by discussing annoying mosquitoes and what happens to people who get bit by mosquitoes. Students shared their personal knowledge and connections to mosquitoes. • The teacher read the story aloud and paused at key moments to have students visualize and discuss the illustrations. • When the read aloud was finished the teacher asked the students to retell the events from the story using as many details as they could remember.

19. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Earsby Verna Aardema • Day 2 • The lesson began with a teacher directed discussion about the first read of the story. Students shared what they remembered about the story. • The story was read aloud again. The discussion continued about the mosquito and the series of events that lead to the owlet dying. • Students recalled events and details from the story as the story was being read. • The second read provided the students with the opportunity to understand the events on a deeper level.

20. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Earsby Verna Aardema • Day 2 continued… • When the discussion and read aloud was finished, the teacher asked the students to help create a list of all the animals and the insect from the story. The teacher recorded the students’ responses on a large sheet. • The teacher then gave explicit directions to choose five of the animals. The students were then instructed to recall all the details of each animals and draw everything they remembered. • When the students were finished with the illustrations the teacher assisted with the assembly of individual mobiles. • The students used the mobiles to retell the important events of the story.

21. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Earsby Verna Aardema • Gradual Release of Responsibility • During each read aloud, the teacher discussed and pointed out the important aspects of each animal and the insect. • The students were released after explicit instruction to replicate the animals and the insect from the story. • The students were instructed to close their eyes and try to remember the details from the story. • The students were also encouraged to add their personal background knowledge to add details to their illustrations. • The students then drew the illustrations independently.

22. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Earsby Verna Aardema • Results • Students were actively engaged in the read aloud and discussion. • The mosquito, python, and iguana illustrations, from all four students, were very detailed. • A few of the other illustrations lacked important details and could have had more time devoted to adding details. • Students were more interested in reading the book again than illustrating. • Students did use the mobiles to retell the story and enjoyed doing so. • The retellings contained many important details from the story.

23. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Earsby Verna Aardema • Student Work The student reproduced the major details of the mosquito in this picture. This is an image that has been added to the student’s mobile that she will use to retell the story.

24. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Earsby Verna Aardema • Student Work The student reproduced the major details of the iguana in this picture. In the story the iguana had sticks in it’s ears, which created a host of problems in the jungle. This is an image that has been added to the student’s mobile that she will use to retell the story.

25. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Earsby Verna Aardema • Student Work The student reproduced some details of the owl and her baby, who died in the story. This is an image that has been added to the student’s mobile that she will use to retell the story.

26. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Earsby Verna Aardema • Student Work At the end of the story the mosquito is punished for causing a chain of events that led to the death of a baby owl. The punishment was for it to be killed. The student added the word “Slap!” to reinforce the dramatic event.

27. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Earsby Verna Aardema • Student Work This is a picture of the finished mobile that the student will use to retell the story.

28. Colleague’s Recommendations • I shared my lessons with my grade level team member. • This teacher also observed the four lessons and witnessed the students’ responses and interactions with the text. • She said she enjoyed the way “the students used key vocabulary from the text in their discussions”. • She also said “the students made excellent connections and had great conversations about the texts”. • She recommends that … • “both texts be used for lessons to teach making connections instead of visualizing”.

29. Conclusion • When I use these books in the future… • I will teach students how to make text-to-text connections and text-to-self connections. • I will have more examples to show how images are symbolic by finding pictures on google.com. • I will have the students read the story independently or with a partner a third time to develop more vocabulary.

30. Conclusion • I learned that … • I need to have more photographs of examples or have the internet readily available to look something up for the students. • Students need to develop a more critical eye when representing animals, there should be more details drawn to establish a like-image. • Students need encouragement to add details to the pictures they create. • In general, more time needs to be spent with any text students find extremely interesting.

31. Conclusion • How can others use my project … • Use the books to teach both visualization and making connections • Both texts have a well developed, exciting story which captures students’ attention • Encourage students to read the texts independently • Establish an author study using the authors of both of these texts