Visualization and Comprehension Pt 10

This is the final post in this series of blogs so I thought that I should direct fellow bloggers to three very good resources related to visualization and reading comprehension.

The first site 'TeacherVision' shows you how to begin a series of visualisation lessons .

The second site 'Readwritethink' (the International Reading Association's blog) has a good beginning visualizing lesson plan to start the ball rolling.

The third site is the Lindamood-Bell 18th International conference, 'Imagine Learning' (see the picture below).

I have been invited as a guest Research Presenter and I've chosen to call my presentation 'Tale of Three Cities' tracing my research across three Australian cities. This will be a brief outline spanning twenty-years of exploration and discovery. It centres around Dual Coding theory and the teaching of visual and verbal thinking processes to enhance reading comprehension, particularly for children who struggle in this aspect of their learning. It begins on the Gold Coast (the Surf City), continues in Canberra (the City of the Lake) and finishes in Brisbane (the River City).

The underlying theme of this research journey will be how I have endeavoured to link visulaization (Australians use 'visualisation') at the local level or sentence level with the larger global level comprehension of text discourse.

Hope to see you there!

Visualization and Reading Comprehension Pt 7

Visualizing strategies can be used by readers at three strategic phases of story reading.

When used at the before reading phase it can activate background knowledge and enable the reader to predict and select a schema or knowledge framework to provide a flexible structure on which to scaffold their imagination as the story events unfold. 

The during reading phase should be characterised by an active imagination that creates images from a combination of the reader's past experiences and the new story ideas. Good readers will often visualise the story as if it was a movie. This visualising activity helps the reader organise and make sense of the text information while, at the same time, enables their working memory to function more efficiently. 

The after reading phase is a  re-organization phase that helps children re-imagine and re-create according to their own view of their world.  Trevor Cairney's blog, 'Literacy,  families and learning' recently had an excellent post that is quite relevant to this third phase. 
He says, "Imaginative recreation is an essential part of learning, probably even life. It sits alongside 'story' as an essential way to relive or enrich narrative experiences. Story in its own right is critical to learning, communication and well-being. Imaginative recreation is one of its essential foundations. For many children, the re-creation of story is a critical part of their growing knowledge of narrative."

Trevor goes on to say that this re-creation phase not only enhances children's enjoyment but also deepens their understanding and appreciation of literature. On his Blog there is an extensive list of visualizing activities from using manipulatives to role play. 

Visualizing and Reading Comprehension Pt 5

Graphica

I have been reading "Advetures in Graphica: Using Comics and Graphic Novels to Teach Comprehension, 2-6. by Terry Thompson. Chapter seven "In the Mind's Eye: Making Mental Images and Inferring" is a particularly interesting chapter and well worth reading, particularly if you want to have a slightly different take on visualisation and comprehension.

The book is written in an easy to read and conversational style with lots of good teaching tips and practical ideas. The author says, "Comics can help by serving as a tangible model of the visualisation that good readers create in their heads as they read. Using examples from graphica, we can mirror mental images and display them right there on the page in front of our students, allowing them to make real connection with what we mean when we say "make a picture in your head." Whether you call it visualisation or creating mental images, the important thing to remember is that students must learn to use their imaginations to bring texts to life." (page 73-74).

He goes on to say that visualisation is not like a static picture or photograph, it changes and becomes more like a movie as the story unfolds. It incorporates movement, sounds, smells, taste, touch, and feelings. The mental images integrate your past experience and with perceived elements within the story. Inferences are formed when the missing details are filled in by the imagination. Thus, inferences are made by combining the new to the known.

How can graphics help children visualise? It can demonstrate the artist's imagination in various ways by using the graphics conventions such as speech bubbles, narration boxes, panels, gutters, text, etc. to encapsulate action, characterisation, mood, and emotion. For example, mood may be expressed through different variations of colour, line, perspective, font size and style. Children can be encouraged to use their inferencing skills to explore character traits. In the graphics they are able to gain clues as to the mental states of the characters through the depiction of their actions, what they say in speech bubbles, and by the expressions on their faces.

"Because comics represent characters visually, they help the reader in identifying and getting to know them. ..., this can help readers monitor who's speaking and how each character works into the story line. This visual connection to the players in the text frees readers up so they can practice attending to the characters and analyse the important role their presence plays during reading."(page 74).