Even though it’s written for a little younger audience, students will still appreciate the story. The book Jabari Jumps is an excellent mentor text for this lesson. To take it another step farther, have students use visualization techniques to create mental movies. Of course, students then chime in with their own experiences. I completely disagreed with the casting choices, because I had created mental images of all of the characters and the characters in my mind did not reflect who was chosen to play each role. Students love hearing stories from your personal life, so I like to share an example of when I was irritated when one of my favorite books was made into a movie. These mental pictures or mental images allow students to “see” the setting, characters, and action in the text. It’s helpful to relate visualizations to creating mental images.
While I know that sensory details are taught to students as young as kindergarten, this is a great introduction that helps students think deeply about sensory details and how the author uses those details to enhance the text. The language in the book is truly beautiful. I chose that particular book because of the author’s use of sensory details. I introduce visualizing when reading by using Twilight Comes Twice as a mentor text. Visualization is important because it can help students’ reading comprehension, make students feel more connected to the text. I like to begin with teaching visualizing when reading. In my f irst reading unit, the major emphasis of instruction is comprehension strategies. Without that foundation, students are not able to approach or access their grade level standards. However, many students need explicit instruction in comprehension strategies. For some students these components are natural and they develop these comprehension strategies on their own.
There are many underlying components to reading comprehension and visualization that are essential for students to be able to read and understand a text. However, I would be doing a disservice to my students. Whenever the new year begins, I’m always anxious to jump right into my standards. In many situations, visualizing has to be explicitly taught, even though it’s often not included in state standards. Visualizing when reading is not something that comes naturally to all students.
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