Picture This: Helping Readers Flex Their Imaginations
Not long ago, I walked around a middle school classroom and made note of decorations on students' binders. The girls, in particular, had drawings and magazine cut-outs depicting the actors from the Twilight series movies. Later I noticed the same types of images decorating student lockers. I marveled at the popularity of the books, and as a reading teacher, I was delighted to see kids interested in reading. I was impressed by how connected they felt to characters in a story. Then I realized something. The students may not feel connected to the characters , but to the actors playing the characters.
I'm reminded of that today because, even though I'm fighting it for all I'm worth, I'm losing my own personal image of my favorite character from The Hunger Games series. I’m losing Katniss. I'm trying to hold on to the protagonist I've known for over two years. I've tensed every muscle through her battles. I’ve had nightmares over her struggles. And now I'm trying to hold on to how I’ve pictured her, but I’m losing … because she's gradually being replaced in my head by an actress.
As a reading teacher, I encourage my students to visualize the descriptions in the books they read—what my principal calls "the movies in their heads." While reading The Hunger Games trilogy, I could see Katniss. She became a friend during those books—one I felt I actually knew, one I missed when I...
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