Lesson- Visualizing
Lesson Topic: Visualizing Subject: English/ Writing
IN Standards and Indicators: 1.RL.2.4-Make and confirm predictions about what will happen next in a story (There isn’t really a direct standard. The closest one I can relate it to is 1.rl.4.2.)
Lesson Objective: Students will be able to listen to a story and create an image using vitalization or Brain TV that accurately goes with the story.
Materials/Media: whiteboards/ markers, the story an “A Bird Named Fern”, handout, the story called “Little Flap Learns to Fly”, crayons/ markers, alternative handout (if the students are not handling whiteboards)
Motivation: For motivation, I am going to start off by playing a visualizing game. I am going to pass out whiteboards to everyone, but tell the class they cannot use the whiteboard until I say “Go”. I am going to describe an object without telling the class what it is. While I am describing the object students are to sit quietly with their eyes closed. When I am done and say “Go”. They are to open their eyes and draw/ write the object on the whiteboard that they think it is. After everyone is done, the boards are to be flipped.
*If at any time, students are misusing the whiteboards, they will be told to do the activities on paper.
Play the game two times.
I have fur and whiskers. I purr when I am happy. I am a ______?
I am a cat.
I am the same size as your dinner plate. I am usually round. I am the color brown. I smell delicious. I taste sweet. My texture is soft and moist. You cannot forget about me on your birthday. I am a?
I am chocolate cake.
Rationale: Today, boys and girls, we are learning about visualizing the text as you listen to the story.
Teach:
Explaining: When you read you should try to visualize the text. When you visualize, you form pictures in your mind about characters, setting, and events in the story. Think of visualizing as “Brain TV.”
Practice- Have students listen to the story “A Bird named Fern” (Wonders, 2014, pg. 141-149). They should close their eyes and create images in their heads as if they were watching a television show. After reading the story, ask students to talk about what they visualized. Emphasize that each student has his or her own ideas of what the images look like, and point out that no two images are exactly the same. Explain to students that this strategy of visualizing can help them to better understand what they are reading in a text.
Demonstrate- The students are going to listen to a short description. Ask them to visualize it in their head. Read the description out loud.
“It was a hot day. I found a big cave. It was dark and quit inside. I was surprised to see a soft red mat” (A bird named Fern, 2014, pg.152)
When you are finished the short paragraph, tell students that you are going to draw what I imagined in my head. I will draw on a white board quickly. I make sure to tell the students that pictures do not need to be perfect. Ask students for their interpretations of your picture. Was the picture the same as the TV in your brain?
Guided Practice- Now it is the student’s time to try. The students are going to listen to a short description. Ask them to visualize it in their head. Read the description out loud.
“Little Flap peered over the edge of his nest. It was very high up. When he looked down, the ground seemed very far” (Little flap learns to fly. 2014, pg. 24).
When I am finished with the short story, I will have students draw on a whiteboard what they imagined in their head. I will reassure the students that their pictures do not have to be great. After the pictures are done, the students will share their pictures. Talk about how everyone’s pictures are different and that’s okay.
If students need more help another passage to read is “He found a big juicy worm and shared it with his friends” (Little flap learns to fly. 2014, pg. 27).
Check for understanding: What is brain TV? Can someone describe visualizing? Does everyone visualize the same thing?
Assessment/ Evaluation of student learning- Students will show their understanding of visualization during reading by listening/ reading a story called “I Ate too much Turkey.” The students will draw what the visualized using their Brain TV in the cloud bubble on the handout.
Review: Today boys and girls we learned about visualization while reading and listening to the text. How is visualizing similar to or different than watching TV? How does reading/ listening differ when you do not use Brain TV as compared to when you do?
