What if the students just flat out didn’t like me as a teacher? These questions and many more flooded my mind for the whole week leading up to that first lesson. A of four students and myself gathered together at the kidney table to read and practice our newly found visualizing skills. Before reading, I The Tall Tall Giant asked students what information they already knew about giants, what other stories with giants as characters had they read, and consequently what images of giants did they already have in their heads. It was a really fun and active conversation. Connecting the task of visualizing to students’ prior knowledge and experiences is something I think I did particularly well in this lesson. All four students were eager and ready to share every little thing they had ever read or seen about giants, and all of the images of giants that were in their heads were so full of detail and creativity that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at a few of them, it was quite and accomplished moment for me one giant had – wings, another had claws for hands. My goal for this lesson was for the students to walk away with a better understanding of what the visualizing strategy is, how it can be applied to a variety of sources, and how it helps with reading comprehension. As far as the actual teaching of the lesson went, I stuck pretty closely to how Mrs. Horner has taught the initial whole group lesson on visualizing with I modeled for my group The Ugliest Dog in the World. what I do when I read a book and how I create a mental image in my head. When we were thinking about and what the giant’s house might look like on the The Tall Tall Giant inside, I asked the students questions about how the text we had just read and the illustrator’s own drawings might have influenced their own mental pictures of the giant.
What if the students just flat out didn’t like me as a teacher? These questions and many more flooded my mind for the whole week leading up to that first lesson. A of four students and myself gathered together at the kidney table to read The Tall Tall Giant and practice our newly found visualizing skills. Before reading, I asked students what information they already knew about giants, what other stories with giants as characters had they read, and consequently what images of giants did they already have in their heads. It was a really fun and active conversation. Connecting the task of visualizing to students’ prior knowledge and experiences is something I think I did particularly well in this lesson. All four students were eager and ready to share every little thing they had ever read or seen about giants, and all of the images of giants that were in their heads were so full of detail and creativity that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at a few of them, it was quite and accomplished moment for me – one giant had wings, another had claws for hands. My goal for this lesson was for the students to walk away with a better understanding of what the visualizing strategy is, how it can be applied to a variety of sources, and how it helps with reading comprehension. As far as the actual teaching of the lesson went, I stuck pretty closely to how Mrs. Horner has taught the initial whole group lesson on visualizing with The Ugliest Dog in the World. I modeled for my group what I do when I read a book and how I create a mental image in my head. When we were thinking about The Tall Tall Giant and what the giant’s house might look like on the inside, I asked the students questions about how the text we had just read and the illustrator’s own drawings might have influenced their own mental pictures of the giant.
read_aloud_lesson_and_reflection.docx