Reading Comprehension: 
The Thinking Process Approach

Visualization is the process of creating nonlinguistic representations of the written word. The more students use both words and mental images to understand and store ideas, the better able they are to think about and remember knowledge.

This comprehension strategy allows the mind’s eye to transform written words into sensory interpretations. Not only may readers use this strategy for fiction in evoking descriptive settings or action scenes, but readers also use visualization to evoke mental models in all content areas: time sequence, processes, cause effect, etc.

This workshop is designed to show teachers how to engage students in creating their own mental models as well as extending their understanding of descriptive text. Teachers will be provided with concrete examples and guides about how to use both apparent and subtle text clues in making linguistic and nonlinguistic inferences that are integral to comprehension and retention.