1. Writing Workshop: Visualization Exercise Anansi Steals the Palm Wine Prof. Myrna Monllor Jiménez Prof. Helen Avilés Borinquen Writing Project

2. Visualization  Visualizing involves picturing in your mind what is happening in the text.  Current studies demonstrate that when students experience explicit instruction of comprehension strategies, it improves their comprehension of new texts and topics.  Encourages diverse perspectives in response to text and fosters an environment of open discussion.

3. When students visualize  They find connections between the author’s thoughts and their own thoughts.  They create images by using prior knowledge.

4. They understand that throughout the writing process, a great deal of thinking by a writer considers how readers will visualize. They understand that words connect the emotion, senses, and experiences of a writer to a reader.

5. Anansi Steals the Palm Wine  Before reading you may want to discuss new vocabulary  Read the story Anansi Steals the Palm Wine  Have students skim through the reading again and mark all verbs  Write a list of the verbs you want to emphasize on the board

6.  Divide the class in groups  Give instructions Draw the story in seven scenes Color your story Write a sentence caption for each scene Have each group check for subject-verb agreement Have them underline the verbs Display murals Retell the story using your mural Options: 1 student reads from the mural, others retell the story in their own words  Provide butcher paper for the preparation of murals

7. Additional Activities  When a story is long enough, you may want to give each class group only one scene from the story.  With the scenes that they develop, you may work with sequence exercises.  Display murals throughout the time they will be working with the story. In this way students will review the vocabulary words they used every time they look at the mural. They may also use the words for additional writing activities.

8. References http://www.reading.org/downloads/53rd_conv_handouts/Vis ualization.pdf http://www.reading.org/downloads/53rd_conv_handouts/Vis ualization.pdf Visualization: The Missing Link Between Reading and Writing