Visualizing During Reading: mentor texts, anchor chart, and strategy

Have you ever read a paragraph, only to realize you had no idea what you just read?

It happens to the best of us!

When students are finding that this is happening to them, it can be really helpful to focus on visualizing.

Basically, visualizing is when students create a “movie in their mind” – which sounds pretty fun, actually! When visualizing, students can check their understanding as they read, and make sure they’re actually holding onto the information (ie. what did I just read??)!

If they notice that they did not understand the text or lost focus, they can reread! If students are struggling with comprehension, try this visualization activity.

Step 1: Select a read aloud text that works well with visualization

These are some of my favorite books for visualization:

The Seashore Book by Charlotte Zolotow
Snow by Cynthia Rylant
In November by Cynthia Rylant
Kitchen Dance by Maurie J. Manning
Home Run: The Story of Babe Ruth by Robert Burleigh

Model reading a short piece of text and paraphrasing what you heard as you make a quick, bare bones sketch.

This anchor chart is one example of recording the sensory details for each of the five senses in order to make a quick sketch using the details!

Step 2: Pause your read aloud and have students sketch their visualizations.

Have student fold a piece of paper into eighths. Then, stop periodically as you read and have students complete a five second sketch of what they visualize – aka what is going on in the text! You can re-read if students have questions about which details to include.

It helps to tell students that their sketch is a ten-second sketch. This keeps them from turning a simple sketch into a masterpiece!

Step 3: Have students write a simple sentence about their sketch.

After they complete their sketch, have them write a sentence about what is taking place. This is a great way to move from visualization to summarizing. A simple “who does what” sentence is a good way to introduce this to help students stay out of the details.

For example, in In November this could be a simple sentence you write to summarize your sketch.

WHO: the trees. DOES WHAT? lose their leaves. The trees lose their leaves.

Ready to to dive deeper into visualization and ensure that students have a solid foundation of the skill, try the Visualizing Sensory Details Minipack.