IMAGERY

STRATEGIES

COMPILED AND PRESENTED FOR THE RESEARCH:

EFFECTIVENESS OF IMAGERY INSTRUCTION

Imagery Strategies

What is an imagery strategy?

Imagery strategies involve activating the memory by taking what is to

be learned and creating meaningful visual, auditory, or kinesthetic
images of the information.

How can imagery strategies help your students?

Imagery strategies are helpful when a student has some grasp of the information to be learned.
Creating images of the information allows for efficient access, and personalizes the learning for
the student.

How can you implement imagery strategies to effectively meet the diverse learning needs of
students?

Imagery is a highly effective strategy for increasing comprehension. An advantage of imagery is

that the learner can use it in a highly individualized manner. Some students will develop imagery
strategies on their own. For many students, however, specific instruction on how to develop
images will be needed.

A visual imagery strategy for reading comprehension is RIDER

(Clark, Warner, Alley, Deshler, Schumaker, Vetter, & Nolan, 1981):

1. R= Read a sentence
2. I= Image (make an image)
3. D= Describe how the new image is different from the last sentence
4. E= Evaluate (as you make the image, check to be sure it contains everything necessary)
5. R= Repeat (as you read the next sentence, repeat the steps to RIDE)
Each letter of RIDER is a cue for a specific action that would be appropriate for the student to
take in a classroom.

Improve reading Comprehension with Visual Imagery

One of the most gut-wrenching questions I get asked is, why some
people just “Get it!”

Others struggle with both understating and memory

According to the Dual Coding Theory of cognition
When someone understands, the brain has a VERBAL component,
a WORD and a VISUAL component, a PICTURE.
Some people are NOT good at putting these two together.
If you READ but don’t understand…
If you feel choppy and scattered when you talk to others…
If you start reading then lose the idea or just get sleepy…
If you find it hard to write papers or reports…
You need to crank up your imaging, by making mental pictures. Easier said than done!

To learn new vocabulary start with the WORD and add an image that explains it, or add an
image funny enough to remind you of the meaning the brain loves funny novel stuff.

Another strategy: turn what you need to learn into a picture, or a series of pictures. You’ll
remember more.

Tip, if you’re using spiral notebook for your studies put your notes on the page to the right and
put pictures on the page to the left, simple stick figures
 Pictures on the left
 Notes or outline on the right
MENTAL IMAGE
Have you ever had a student zone-out while reading and wonder to
himself where I am? What did I just read? Well visualizing can help.
It’s a powerful strategy for making mental images while you read.

To introduce the strategy, explain to students that visualizing is

picturing details from the text to increase their understanding.
Begin with the brief Read aloud.
Ask students to close their eyes and picture what’s happening in the
reading with its many details as they can.
Then ask the student to talk about what they visualize then explain
that you are going to do a quick sketch on what you visualize, making
your sketch unpolished will emphasize for your students that they
should work quickly and not concern themselves with their artistic
quality.
To build the connection between visual details and higher level meaning, ask question to draw
out students interpretation of the picture, then share your interpretation model how visual details
connect with key concepts, reinforce how specific details supports larger ideas.
 Listen and sketch
 Show and listen
 Share