The "Thinking Aloud" hand out I gave you on Saturday is from Debbie Miller's WONDERFUL book, Reading With Meaning. I have read it at least 4 times all the way through because I learn something new each time I read it!
Debbie MIller shares a poem about ducks with her students (on page 83) and then asks her students to draw the images they created in their minds.
Certain poems, songs, and other texts easily lend themselves to this kind of activity. I want you guys to be able to choose a text that would allow young students to practice this 'visualizing' technique. Visualizing helps readers to connect with a text in a way that they will comprehend more deeply... and that is our goal!!!
Look for a poem, song, or a paragraph from any type of text that lends itself to creating mental images. Choose a short piece (only one or two paragraphs at the most) and share it with the class. Please include where you found the peice and WHY you chose this particular piece of writing. I have provided an example.
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When you want to teach students how to 'visualize', you should pick a text that brings images into YOUR mind. If it is boring to you, it will probably bore children too!
ReplyDeleteDon't get too caught up in picking some amazing piece of writing.That could take you forever! Quickly look on your bookshelf, in your kid's books, in the newspaper, in a magazine, on the internet, in the Bible.... even the words of your favorite song may bring vivid mental images into your mind.
Personally, I wanted an excuse to re-read some of my favorite children's poetry books. I found a poem called, It's Awkward, by Jack Prelutsky. I picked my favorite (notice how short) section of this poem to share with you.
When I am out in public,
and you'd like to talk to me,
unless you've got a ladder,
you should climb the nearest tree.
This tends to be impractical,
so people rarely try
to rise up to my altitude
and see me eye to eye.
I chose this part of the poem because it created an image in my head of a very tall, lanky boy. His pants are too short and his neck hurts from always having to look down. I think this image popped into my head because one my favorite channels is The Learning Channel. On TLC, I love watching the shows about the 'world's tallest man' or the 'worlds tallest girl'. NOTICE how my schema (the TLC shows about extremely tall people) helped me visualize and comprehend this poem.
Some of you may have pictured a giraffe or other tall animal when you read this poem, instead of a tall person. Because our schema is different, so are mental images will be also.
Can't wait to read your short pieces of text! Be sure to include WHY you chose the piece as well.