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ACTIVATE:
An “image walk” is a method for activating prior knowledge by using several images to encourage students to anticipate the content that they will encounter in a text. For example, in a text about the Civil War in a history class, students might encounter unfamiliar key terms or concepts such as “bayonet,” “entrenchment,” or “skirmish.” Helping students become familiar with these terms and concepts before the reading will help them develop relevant schemata to aid in deeper comprehension.
PREPARATION:
Identify several images that represent key terms or concepts that students will encounter in the text. These can be pictures of objects themselves, historical photographs or pictures, or other relevant images. Do not yet label these images.
Place these images in various areas of the room and number each one so they can be easily identified at a later point.
STEPS:
PREP STUDENTS: Tell students that they will be engaging in a pre-reading activity where they will be encountering images that represent key concepts from the text that they will be reading.
GROUPS MOVE AROUND ROOM: Break students into small groups and have each group begin at one of the images around the room.
FIRST ROUND, STUDY IMAGES & PREDICT KEY TERM/CONCEPT: For the first round, the small groups of students study the images, attempt to identify a key term or concept that the image represents, and then record their thoughts in their notes. Repeat this step until students have recorded their predictions about each of the images.
SECOND ROUND, REVEAL NAME OF THE KEY TERM/CONCEPT: For the second round, reveal the name of the key term or concept for each image. Then have students revisit the image with this named key term or concept in mind. Ask them to think about how this key term or concept might relate to the text and record their predictions in their notes. Students will revisit each image and repeat this step.
DEBRIEF: Debrief by having some of the groups share their thoughts about each of the images.
REFER BACK DURING READING: Post the images and names of the accompanying key concepts for students to refer to as they encounter these concepts in the text. Seeing these images again as they read will deepen their level of comprehension due to the fact that they are now familiar with these concepts.
EXTENSIONS:
After the image walk and subsequent reading of the text, have students f ind or suggest other images that could hint at the topic or concept of the reading.
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