Instructional Strategy

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY

Draw to Understand

Grade:

K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

Type:

Read Actively

20-30

Minutes

When:

During reading

Materials:

Paper and drawing materials

Description

Draw to Understand is an active reading strategy where students pause to interpret and visualize what they are listening to or reading and then represent it through drawing. Drawing not only increases comprehension and retention, but it also promotes creative thinking and diverse perspectives, as students see and discuss various interpretations of the text.

Procedure

Invite students to listen to a passage or excerpt of text, or ask students to read the text independently, in pairs, or in small groups.

Encourage students to think about what they listened to or read. Ask them to visually represent their thinking, adding words, phrases, or quotes as desired. Depending on the learning goals, you may provide a focus question or purpose for their drawing.

Students share their representations with a partner, a group, or the whole class, using evidence from the text to support their thinking.

Differentiation

Bilingual Sketches: Invite students to create their sketch and label it in a home language and English. This allows students to build their understanding of a scientific concept alongside language development, rather than being hindered by unknown content-specific vocabulary in a new language.

Chunk the Text: To support reading and comprehending a longer or more complex text, provide stopping points and ask students to sketch after each one. This allows students to stop and process information in segments.

Important Ideas Sketch: For students who would benefit from the added challenge of evaluating information, invite them to choose the most important quote, sentence, or detail from the text and use that to create their drawing. In their sharing, students will explain why this is the most important idea in the text.

Variations

Group Sketches: Place students in small groups and invite them to create a sketch together. Students may assign each member a stage, phase, or part of the drawing, or divide work so that some students draw, others label, and others explain the drawing to the class.

Instructional Strategy

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY

Draw to Understand

Description

Procedure

Differentiation

Variations

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