Reading to Learn | missstonesdesigns

Reading for Fluency

Lesson design project for the reading stage of reading to learn (RL): ideas for teaching comprehension strategies with challenging texts.

Wrapped up Visualization

Rationale: When students begin to read fluently they transition from "learning to read" to "reading to learn." In order for students to be most successful at extracting messages from a text they need to be taught comprehension strategies explicitly. According to research, one of the most effective reading comprehension strategies is visualization. Visualization is the ability to imagine, picture, or visualize what you are reading in a text. Visualization helps students monitor their reading and enables them to better comprehend and retain the text they are reading. Normally it is easier to remember images or pictures opposed to just plain words. In this lesson, students will be explicitly taught visualization through my modeling of this strategy, guided independent practice of this strategy, and partner practice. This lesson will help students learn to visualize what they are reading in their mind. We will do this by practicing visualization with a variety of different readings and using pictures to explain the events of the story. They will also be given opportunities to practice visualization by reading a passage of a book and visualizing the text within their imagination.

Materials:

Expository text: The Mystery of King Tut

Select passages for practice visualization (teacher reads)

Square sheet of white cardstock, one for each child

Crayons, markers, colored pencils, etc

Vocabulary words written on board: archaeologist, embalm, genetic, revolution

Cards with passages of book on them, one for each child

Procedures:

1. Say, “When we read stories, sometimes it is hard to follow along and know what we’re reading. But there is a strategy we can learn that will help us! It’s called visualization. When we visualize something, we use our imaginations to create a picture of what we are reading. Visualization is kind of like making a movie of a story we read. We can save those mental pictures and think back to them later so we remember what we read!

2. Say, “Today, we’re going to read a story about a historic figure by the name of King Tut; he was the pharaoh of Egypt far ago in 1334 BC! But first, we’re going to go over a couple vocabulary words so we can better understand our text. [Teacher will go over some vocabulary and provide some examples and non-examples]

An Archaeologist is someone who studies objects from far away times. An archaeologist does not just read old newspapers to learn about the past. To learn more about King Tut’s time we need an archaeologist. Have any of you inspected something that was very very old? Can you help me complete this sentence? The ____________ discovered gold plates and dishes from the ancient queen’s tomb.

Embalm means to fill something with chemicals so it will not rot. We do not embalm by just leaving a body in a casket. Many companies embalm food to make it last longer. Why do you think the ancient Egyptians embalmed? I need help completing this sentence: To allow the King live on in the afterlife citizens ____________ him with special oils.

Genetic means that a certain trait comes in the family. Genetics are never random. Jamie’s long brown hair and green eyes were probably genetic from her parent! How can genetics tell who we are? Can you help me finish this sentence? It was because of his family ______________ that Toby had that disease.

Revolution means a sudden change because of acts of peace or violence. Many poor countries have revolutions in order to create a better government that will help them. How have revolutions hurt or helped countries? Help me finish this sentence: The colonists felt they needed to start a _____________ to free themselves from the unfair British government.

3. Say, “Some of the words we just learned are in this book, so we’re going read it and learn more about them! Now, we can get excited about visualizing our text, The Mystery of King Tut. Has anyone ever seen a mummy before? Did it appear scary? How did it make you curious about our world’s history? King Tut ruled the land of Egypt and was placed in a prized pyramid after his death. How do you think archaeologists learned about him? Do you think he deserved to be king? We’ll have to read to find out! I’m going to read the first page to show you how to visualize a story. As I read, I’m going to create mental pictures in my head of what the story might look like that will help me better understand the story. After I read a section, I’m going to close my eyes so I can better visualize what I just read. With my eyes closed, there will be no distractions and I will be able to focus on the pictures in my mind!

4.Say, “Okay, now I’m going to demonstrate how I might visualize this part of the story. Make sure you are listening carefully! [Teacher reads from the first page, not showing any pictures.] “In 1922, a British archaeologist made a fantastic discovery in the country of Egypt” [Teacher closes eyes for a moment, showing children process of thinking about pictures] I know that an archaeologist searches for old artifacts, and King Tut probably buried all of his treasures in his tomb. I see an old pyramids cracking under hundreds of years of stress. Hot archaeologists dig deeper and deeper into the ground in hopes of finding pieces of history. At last they find it! It is the key to all their hard work and research! [Show face to students; open eyes and continue reading. “He found the tomb of Tutankhamun, better known as King Tut. Tut ruled ancient Egypt more than 3,300 years ago, becoming pharaoh at the age of nine. He rules less than a decade before dying suddenly at about age 19. Over all the years since the opening of Tut’s coffin, many have wondered how and why the young king died.” [close eyes] Now I see a young man with much potential. He has a whole kingdom to rule and no competitors to stop him. But something happened and he died. I now see many confused archaeologists staring at Tut’s tomb and wondering what exactly happened.

5. Say, “Now let’s try a passage together! I want you to close your eyes and visualize what I read. Concentrate on the words and listen to the story to create good mental pictures of what I’m reading. Visualize what I read: “At the beginning of the New Kingdom era, two of Egypt’s most important gods were Ra and Amun. Ra was believed to live within the sun. In images he was often depicted as a falcon. Amun was usually depicted as a man with a tall crown.” Were you able to visualize what I read? Do you think you could draw a picture of what you visualized? I’m going to reread the whole passage so you can visualize the story better! Make sure to listen carefully again! [Read first part of book over again, slowly and with expression]. Does anyone want to describe what their mental picture is?

6. Say, “Now you know what The Mystery of King Tut is about, and we know some vocabulary we might need, so I want you to read and continue to visualize the rest of the story! I’m going to continue to read aloud for you, but I’m not going to show you any pictures. I want you to visualize what I’m reading. If you want to close your eyes, you may, but make sure you’re paying attention and listening very carefully! After finish the whole story, you’re going to get a part of the story to visualize and illustrate so really concentrate on visualization. [Read rest of story without showing pictures, continually reminding and encouraging them to visualize].

7. Say, “So, we have read the whole story – I know you can put your mental pictures on to paper! I’m going to give you a card that has a passage of the story on it. Read the passage to yourself, visualize what is happening, and then illustrate it on your piece of cardstock. Our vocabulary words are on the board if you need them! On the back of your paper, describe what you drew in your own words. Then, we are going to answer some questions about our story. [After students are finished, let them present their picture to the class and explain it. This will be assessment of students’ comprehension and visualization skills. Description of illustration, the illustration, and the passage should all connect together and make sense. Students will also go to teacher's desk and answer a couple comprehension questions].

Assessment:

The teacher will refer to the students' drawings of The Mystery of King Tut. She will use the following rubric to grade students' work. She will grade each drawing according to the rubric which is out of 10 total points:

_____ Did the student draw a picture? (2)

_____Does the picture relate to the passage? (2)

_____ Does the picture accurately depict what the passage was about? (2)

_____ Did the student include a detailed description? (2)

_____ Do the description and illustration show comprehension of the passage? (2)

The teacher will also assess the students' understanding of the story based on their completion of the following questions:

Comprehension Questions:

Did Archaeologists figure out the mystery of King Tut?

What do you think it meant to Tut to change his name?

Do you think it could have been hard to rule an empire, especially for King Tut?

How could archaeologists learn more about Tut’s history?

How did finding King Tut contribute to history, as we know it?