As we help students bring imagery to consciousness, one of the tools we use is our set of Structure Words, which provides a categorical scaffolding for students to build imagery upon as they read. Each of the twelve structure words is written on its own card, and these include: What, Size, Color, Number, Shape, Movement, etc. Without the structure words, students are often at a loss when asked to verbalize what they’re imagining, or conversely, they spit out an incomprehensible jumble of disordered pictures.
To combat these tendencies, we encourage them to keep these categories in the backs of their minds as they read and build imagery, which helps add color – literally! – as students grow their imaginative capabilities. At the end of the story, we’ll have the students go through the Structure Words to help anchor the imagery, flipping each card over as they do so: “What: I saw a grizzly bear. Size: the grizzly bear was as tall as the ceiling. Color: the grizzly bear was brown, and its teeth were white. Shape: the grizzly was big and thick. Movement: the grizzly bear was slapping a fish out of the stream.”
These structure words act like training wheels, giving students something to support their mental imagery as they read. Gradually, as students advance through Visualizing and Verbalizing, students no longer need the structure words, since they begin to automatically imagine and verbalize Size, Color, Shape, Movement and more.
This post was written by Michael Busk.