Reading Strategies

11. Engaging in Reading: Visualizing

Visualizing text is a crucial skill for students because if you can get the picture, often you've got the concept.

If you don’t get those pictures in your head, you may need to think aloud and talk through the ideas in the text,  or ask a fellow student to explain the pictures that come to his or her mind. Visualization can help you to focus, remember, and apply your learning in new and creative situations. It is an invaluable skill in subjects such as Math, Science, and Design & Technology, where understanding spatial relationships can be a key to solving complex problems.

In order to visualize text, you need to understand the concepts of seen text and unseen text.

• Seen text involves everything that can be seen on the page: words, diagrams, pictures, special typographical features.
• Unseen text draws on background knowledge and experiences, and word knowledge as you come across unfamiliar vocabulary.

Learning to visualize takes practice. As you read a text, try to pay attention to what you 'see' in your mind. Some students have described this as the movie that plays in their minds while they read. Make note of these images and if possible, share them with a classmate. Compare your images and ask questions to determine why your images are different.