In this strategy students are encouraged to form mental images of words and relate descriptors to the words. It can be used with narrative or expository text and is effective with students at all levels.
1. Select a key word that is critical to the comprehension of the text the students will be reading.
2. Write the word on the board and have the students say/sign and fingerspell it.
3. Tell the students what the word means and then use it in an analogy, for example, if the key word is zebra, tell the students: A zebra is an animal that lives in Africa. A zebra looks like a small horse with black and white stripes.
4. Ask each child to close their eyes and picture a zebra in their minds. Each child describes their mental pictures and teacher and students discuss.
5. Ask the students to draw their mental picture (this step will not be appropriate for all concepts).
6. After the students have read the text, they can elaborate on the key word/concept.
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