Literacy Matters - Vol 21 - Winter 2021

paragraph information, students touch each square to recall each square’s mental image/content. Students touch one square per sentence or a longer clause with important information when learning to memorize the passage information or retell it. Retold sentences do not have to represent the read passage verbatim. The goal is for students to retell the content with all relevant details in their own words with their own mental images. See Figure 5 for an overview of teachers’ procedural steps to conduct mental imaging and verbalizing tasks with colored squares. When possible or needed (i.e., for ELs), an image of the content associated with a square can be used instead of a colored square. This would then resemble a picture/image story retelling of content. The author created a YouTube video to illustrate mental imaging practices using colored squares (Schneider, 2020b). Phase 4: Mental Imaging and Verbalizing with Multiple Paragraphs and Larger Texts MSML comprehension practice can advance to multiple paragraphs following the same procedures described in Phase 3. At this point, up to nine differently colored squares can be used to represent essential information of several paragraphs. This prepares students for summarizing longer texts and the ability to take notes on information shared in longer oral teacher talk or reading materials common in upper elementary, middle, and high school settings (Allington, 2015; Bell, 2007, Jennings & Haynes, 2018). After successfully retelling the content of several paragraphs using colored squares, students can practice taking notes based on the information associated with each colored square. For example, after listening to Martin’s big words: The life of Dr. Martin Luther King by Rappaport and Collier (2007), students retell essential facts about key events in Martin Luther King’s life using colored squares. Next, they use the mental images associated with the colored squares to record those facts by either completing a graphic organizer or taking notes on a T-chart that contains time information on one side and facts on the other. These notes can serve as guidelines for composing a follow-up summary based on carefully developed mental images of events and oral retelling practice. Conclusion Effective reading and listening comprehension skills are essential life skills in today’s literate society. They are core skills to be applied effectively in upper elementary, middle, and high school academic reading, writing and discussion tasks (Jennings & Haynes, 2018; Zwiers & Hamerla, 2018). Therefore, the strategies shared in this article provide general education teachers with more specific approaches to better meet the increasing in-class intervention needs due to Read to Succeed and MTSS requirements and the steadily increasing student diversity (i.e., ELs). Additionally, they provide educators with strategies to help students learn to slow down and engage deeply with text as critically reflective, empathic thinkers through experiences with tangible reading materials amidst increasingly more digital literacy experiences that quickly lead to surface level processing of information (Baron, 2015; Mangen & van der Weel, 2016; Wolf, 2019).

MSML comprehension teaching strategies give teachers choices at different levels of challenge them while engaging in mental imagery and critically reflective academic oral language practices to strengthen their listening and reading comprehension and academic speaking skills. While these strategies are not necessary for all students, all learners can benefit from them (see different practice phases). However, students with poor comprehension skills and increasing hesitation to read because struggles depend on student-engaging strategies like those shared in this article. As short activities, the shared mental imaging and verbalization skills can easily be integrated into existing literacy, social studies, or science curricula for pre-reading/writing or post-unit instruction to enhance even good comprehender’s mental imaging and verbalization skills. The author’s classroom application model allows for authentic, peer-supported language practice with sentence frames, color and image support (August & Shanahan, 2007; Schneider & Kulmhofer, 2016). Lastly, anecdotal feedback from classroom teachers that the author trained over the last 20 years (personal author notes in- class notes journal) encourages readers to experiment with the shared comprehension and academic speaking strategies. They align with research findings that point out fast improvement after a few weeks of practice (i.e., Christodoulou, 2017; Lindamood- Bell Learning Processes, 2015; Murdaugh et al., 2015; 2016). Teachers reported that even implementing different phases occasionally to activate mental imaging got struggling readers more effectively engaged in extracting information from text. For instance, teachers routinely found themselves implementing one or several phases every two-three weeks mostly at the end of a unit before students were asked to engage in reflective writing about a topic or before a test. Teachers also shared repeatedly that students responded positively to the tactile- kinesthetic, repeated, small group work. Representative other similar comments, one teacher shared that her “ most struggling comprehenders were willingly engaged and did not even realize they were practicing comprehension skills!”. Teachers also pointed out that they observed students commenting explicitly on what they pictured when reading independently without being prompted to share what they visualized. References Allington, R. (2015). What really matters for middle school readers. From research to practice. Pearson . Atoum, A. Y. & Resiq, A. M. (2018). Can mental imagery predict reading comprehension? Current Research Journal of Social Sciences, 1, (1), 13-20. http:// dx.doi.org/10.12944/RJSSH.1.1.02 August, D., & Shanahan, T. (2007 ). Developing reading and writing in second language learners: Lessons from the Report of the National Literacy Panel on language minority children and youth . Erlbaum.

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Baron, N. S. (2015). Words onscreen: The fate of reading in a digital world . Oxford University Press.

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