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Reading Is Seeing
In Reading IS Seeing , Jeffrey Wilhelm shares well over 100 visualization strategies that build reading skills and make reading, discussing, and reflecting on texts more engaging and relevant. These techniques can be adapted to use with virtually any kind of text , including, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, picture books. Idea tableau, mirror mapping, illustrated journals, picture maps, character symbol maps, and quote books are just a few of the many motivating strategies. Wilhelm gives the strategies moorings in theory and current research, so teachers know exactly how to incorporate them into the "big picture" of their teaching goals. He champions a learning-centered approach, in which teachers continually model and guide students toward "the next accessible reading challenge." Furthermore, he includes explicit teaching sequences, many samples of students’ visualization projects, and examples of strategies in action using specific books. The strategies in this book will help students • activate and build background knowledge • elaborate textual details about settings, scenes, actions, and characters • make inferences about characters, settings, ideas, and themes • identify important details and stitch these together to state a text's main idea • develop mental models to comprehend non fiction
192 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 31, 2015
There were several factors that contributed to my mediocre feelings about this book.
First, I had just read a bunch of Kelly Gallagher books, and most of what Dr. Wilhelm states in this book can be covered in the metaphor section of Deeper Reading.
Second, I've been doing a whole lot of reading this summer, both PD books and articles for my Master's degree. I found much of the content in this book to not be new or useful. Oh, learn what students are interested in so you can be a better teacher? Check. Oh, I need to appropriately scaffold units and front-load content to help students understand more? Check.
The last part that bugged me was the organization, or lack thereof. Each chapter did not feel very focused, and boy did the ideas repeat.
That's not to say that I didn't get anything valuable from this book, because I did, and I bet other teachers can get some good advice as well. I particularly liked the idea of using a lot of different, short texts centered around a theme to help students practice various skills, such as finding the main idea. I also liked the idea of using art.
First, I had just read a bunch of Kelly Gallagher books, and most of what Dr. Wilhelm states in this book can be covered in the metaphor section of Deeper Reading.
Second, I've been doing a whole lot of reading this summer, both PD books and articles for my Master's degree. I found much of the content in this book to not be new or useful. Oh, learn what students are interested in so you can be a better teacher? Check. Oh, I need to appropriately scaffold units and front-load content to help students understand more? Check.
The last part that bugged me was the organization, or lack thereof. Each chapter did not feel very focused, and boy did the ideas repeat.
That's not to say that I didn't get anything valuable from this book, because I did, and I bet other teachers can get some good advice as well. I particularly liked the idea of using a lot of different, short texts centered around a theme to help students practice various skills, such as finding the main idea. I also liked the idea of using art.
January 13, 2011
Dr. Wilhelm explores ways that instructors can work within an all too often failing educational structure. His work in inquiry based learning provides a strong foundation for instructors. Reading is Seeing is a nice addition to his body of work on this subject. He blends the theoretical with the practical (less theory in this book than others). Wilhelm provides some "right now" approaches on how to incorporate visual literacy as a scaffolding tool to increased comprehension. For the seasoned teacher, many of the ideas are not new. However, he does provide a few new spins. He also has some pretty good examples of short texts to use for students who have not built reading stamina.
A quick and easy ready with practical approaches to literacy.
A quick and easy ready with practical approaches to literacy.
February 7, 2014
Wonderful book that grounds teaching practice in theory and lived examples from the classroom. In particular, i appreciate how i can relate what is shared to what and how i am teaching. In our education endeavour we are hoping to support students to "read" the world and to have ways and tools to engage in/with the world.
April 15, 2009
This is one of my favorite books about teaching reading. It really goes into depth about what reading is and how to reach the hard-to-reach kids. Wilhelm uses strong theory to back up the stratgies. I love it.
June 19, 2011
Dr. Wilhelm provides teachers with a wide variety of creative visualization reading strategies and logic behind the usage of such strategies. I plan on using quite a few of these wonderful reading strategies in the upcoming school year- can't wait!
August 20, 2011
Not a favorite-not a lot of new territory. I DID learn from their chart contrasting information and knowledge. But overall, I am disappointed.
August 16, 2010
Good book for those that are trying to learn more about reading and the teaching of reading.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews