Program Synopsis
In this episode, Mrs. Pingel's students are introduced to the strategy of visualizing in their music class, then explore the process further during a small group guided reading lesson.

Using his five senses to visualize makes the story so real for Trent that he is drawn literally "into the book." Thanks to his new understanding of the strategy, he is able to help a character in the story get out of a bind. Later, he applies the strategy to solve a problem of his own. Extended synopsis

Featured text:
Monsters in the Basement
An incomplete short story written by Bob Risher for this program.

Teaching Suggestions:

• Think about how you want to use this program. How does it fit into your teaching plan?
  1. Use it to introduce the visualizing strategy
  2. As a follow-up or review
  3. To address a problem area

Before viewing:

• Set a purpose for watching the video. Explain that students will be trying the strategy themselves after they watch the video.
• Provide a list of things to look for in the program, for example:
  1. How does visualizing help the students?
  2. Why do different students visualize different things?

During viewing:

• Pause the video during teachable moments. For example:
  1. When Mrs. Pingel asks students to describe what they think when they hear the title "Monsters in the Basement."
     Ask your class to describe their own mental image.
  2. When students are drawing their basement pictures.
     Have your class draw their own picture.
  3. When Mrs. Pingel assigns the list of descriptive words.
     Have your class come up with their own lists.

After viewing:

• Go through the interactive in the student area of the Web site as a class, using a projector. Rubrics and discussion questions are provided in the teacher guide to student interactive.
• Have students do the interactive individually. Be sure to allow students to share and discuss their picture shows.
• Show students how visualizing can be used in other subject areas.
• Model visualizing during your read-aloud time.
• Students can write their own ending to the Monsters in the Basement story.
• Make sure to follow up! Continue to discuss and practice visualizing with a variety of reading materials.
• Try some of the lesson activities on this site.

Preview Clips

Intro to visualizing clip Notice how Mrs. Pingel uses the students' experience in music class to connect to the reading strategy. Try it yourself: Work with your art or music teacher to make this connection. Address different learning styles! Introduce visualizing as a helpful strategy across the curriculum. Visualizing can clarify a math problem, bring life to a history lesson, and so forth Visualizing lesson clip Notice how some students immediately get pictures in their minds and are able to articulate them; others don't. Try it yourself: Talk to your students about the lack of an image in Kamilah's thought bubble. What can they do to help generate an image? (re-read, look for descriptive words, connect to prior knowledge) Don't dismiss a response that might seem inappropriate right away, but probe with a question such as "How did you come up with that?" Guided Practice clip Notice how Mrs. Pingel guides students to look for specific words in the text that can help them visualize. Notice that the teacher clearly articulates how students used the strategy to help them understand the story. Notice in the background how students who are not in the guided reading group are engaged in other activities around the classroom. Try it yourself: Provide centers with self-regulated activities for other students. This allows you to work in-depth with guided reading groups. For ideas, check out Reaching readers or Flexible and innovative strategies for guided reading Encourage your students to take control of the classroom conversation. Check out Curriculum as Conversation for more on this. Make it clear to your students that the strategy is merely the means to an end — it's all about comprehension!