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TitlePredicting Meaning in Texts with Images
SourceCASLS Activity of the Week
Body

By Tera Reid-Olds, PhD Candidate and CASLS Intern

This activity is designed to highlight classroom implementation of the reading strategy of predicting content before reading.1 

Objective:

  • Students will practice the strategy of predicting meaning and content before they read.

Modes: Interpersonal, Interpretive

Materials Needed:

  • 3-4 images (cover art, icons, photos, or drawings) associated with a text   
  • A blank sheet of paper or worksheet with sample Venn diagram for comparing 3-4 images

Procedure:

1. Before class, compile 3-4 different images that represent a specific text. For literature, these images might be book covers, for social media they might be photos and/or gifs, and for news articles they might be images or drawings.
2. Project the images on the screen (and/or print them out for the students to look at).
3. Tell the students to think about the fact that all of these images represent the same text. Have them work individually for five minutes to compare and contrast the images using a Venn diagram.
4. Once the students have completed their Venn diagrams, tell them to turn to a partner and discuss for three minutes the observations they’ve made.
5. Engage the students in a whole class discussion about predictions for what the text will be about. Ask the students to justify their predictions by linking them back to their observations of the images. As the students respond, write their predictions (key words) on the board. Once you have a complete list of students’ predictions, take a picture of the list before erasing.
6. Ongoing: as the students read the text, revisit the list of the predictions and verify their validity. This process can happen corporately or individually.

1Adapted from Bell, T. (2013). Innovative approaches to teaching literature in the world language classroom, In S. Dhonau (Ed.), MultiTasks, MultiSkills, MultiConnections: Selected Papers from the 2013 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (127-139). Eau Claire, WI: Crown Prints.

Publishdate2019-04-22 02:15:01