Good readers construct mental images as they read a text. By using prior knowledge and background experiences, readers connect the author's writing with a personal picture. Through guided visualization, students learn how to create mental pictures as they read.
Visual Imagery
| When to use: |  Before reading |
 During reading |
After reading |
| How to use: | Individually |
With small groups |
Whole class setting |
More comprehension strategies
Why use visual imagery?
- Generating an image while reading requires that the reader be actively engaged with the text.
- Creating mental images while reading can improve comprehension.
How to use visual imagery
Follow these few simple steps to provide practice developing students' mental images:
- Begin reading. Pause after a few sentences or paragraphs that contain good descriptive information.
- Share the image you've created in your mind, and talk about which words from the book helped you "draw" your picture. Your picture can relate to the setting, the characters, or the actions. By doing this, you are modeling the kind of picture making you want your child to do.
- Talk about how these pictures help you understand what's happening in the story.
- Continue reading. Pause again and share the new image you created. Then ask your child to share what he sees, hears, tastes, smells and feels. Ask what words helped him create the mental image and emotions. By doing this, you are providing your child with practice with this new skill.
- Are your images identical? Probably not! This is a great time to talk about why your images might be different. Perhaps your child went on a school field trip or had a school assembly that changed the way they created the picture in their mind. Perhaps experiences you've had as an adult influenced what you "drew." These differences are important to understand and respect.
- Read a longer portion of text and continue the sharing process.
- Once this is a familiar skill, encourage your child to use mental imagery when she is reading by herself. You can feel confident that these mental pictures will help your child understand the story in an important way.
Resources
Into the Book: lesson plans that help students learn to visualize:
Article from Reading Rockets:
Watch: Visualize It!: Improving Comprehension through Visualizing Comparisons
As a comprehension strategy, visualizing helps students understand the true size of new objects by comparing them to familiar objects. See the lesson plan.
This video is published with permission from the Balanced Literacy Diet. See many more related how-to videos with lesson plans in the Reading Comprehension Strategies section.
Collect resources
Math
Teaching Shapes Using Read-Alouds, Visualization, and Sketch to Stretch from ReadWriteThink encourages strategic reading and real-world math connections. See example >
Draw a Math Story from ReadWriteThink helps students move from the concrete to the symbolic. See example >
Art
From the Art Junction website: Suppose you had a hat that would help you think like an artist. What would it look like? How would it work? Try to imagine such a hat in your mind's eye. Once you have a mental picture of your "artrageous" hat, make it using a paper plate as a base and colored construction paper to create it's form. It may help to draw a picture of your hat before you start. See example >
Music
The San Francisco Symphony Kids' Site offers an online radio that provides musical examples of drama, excitement, tragedy and triumph. The musical selections offer a great opportunity to pair visualization and writing. Simply select a station button, have kids listen and visualize, and then draw or write what they "see" in the music. See example >
Differentiated instruction
For second language learners, students of varying reading skill, students with learning disabilities, and younger learners
- Start with small bits of text. Gradually add more as students get more familiar with the strategy.
- Pair students, or organize them into small groups, for visualization work. Use a strategy like Think-Pair-Share to help students become more comfortable developing mental images.
See the research that supports this strategy
Gambrell, L., & Koskinen, P.S. (2002). Imagery: A strategy for enhancing comprehension. In C. C. Block & M. Pressley (Eds.), Comprehension instruction: Research-based best practices (pp. 305-318). New York: Guilford Press.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00-4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Mental Imagery in Reading: A Sampler of Some Significant Studies
Children's books to use with this strategy
All the World
Alliterative, onomatopoeic language (and gentle illustrations) reveal a child's day shared with family from sun-up to moon-rise.
Least Things: Poems about Small Natures
Short poems (haiku) were written in response to but also evoke creatures shown in crisp close-up photographs of small animals and insects in their natural surroundings. This collection and others by Yolen/Stemple introduce information about nature, and could be used as part of the science curriculum.
Yummy: Eight Favorite Fairy Tales
Eight well known folktales (e.g., 'Little Red Riding Hood,' 'Musicians of Breman') are retold and simply illustrated. (This might be paired with other versions of the same tales and start a study of comparative literature for younger children; e.g., what does the language in this rendition call to mind? How does it compare to X,Y, orZ?)
Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors
Each season of the year has its own special color and feeling. Summer, fall, winter, and spring are presented in rich, lyrical language accompanied by stylized illustrations that evoke something special about each.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Minli embarks on a journey to change the luck of her family and their village. Traditional stories inspired by Chinese folklore combine with a rousing adventure for an altogether satisfying tale. Richly-hued illustrations decorate and enhance the handsome novel.
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing
Meet the Hatchers through the voice of Peter, the oldest of son, tormented (as all siblings are) by his younger and perennially "cute" brother, Farley (better known as Fudge). Their life in an apartment in New York City sparkles with humor and plausible family scenes in this first of the stories of Peter, his family, and ultimately his neighbors.
Aesop's Fables
Almost 100 fables attributed to Aesop have been selected and illustrated in this oversized collection. Familiar and less familiar tales are included, and most are distinguished by illustrations that give these old fables a fresh face. This large collection is an introduction to these classic stories.
The Bunnicula Collection: Books 1 to 3
Harold the family dog narrates three stories of life with supernatural suspicions which begins with Bunnicula, the bunny with fangs. In the Howliday Inn while boarding at the Chateau Bow-Wow, Harold and Chester (the Monroe cat) encounter a werewolf, perhaps. Chester and Harold must stop zombie vegetables when the Celery Stalks at Midnight. Over-the-top humor is very appealing to a broad range of listeners (including adults!).
I love how these reading tips are so clear for the teaching adult. To suggest books that will help teach the strategy is a real bonus. Makes me want to teach kids how to read again.