Analyzing Images

You would think looking at an image and explaining what is happening and how it helps you to understand reading would be a pretty easy concept for a lot of students. Not true, as I have learned the hard way. Many kids just don't take the time stop and look closely and use everything they see to help them comprehend what they are reading.  So...that is what led to many discussions and activities using photographs.

I used this anchor chart to introduce the different types of media and some of the ways questions may be asked about photographs and illustrations that accompany our reading.

To practice really looking closely at photographs and making inferences and predictions, we used photographs from The New York Times.  They have an amazing collection.  This is a great activity to do every morning to start some real conversations and practice really looking at photographs to notice details.

Check out this blog post with ten sample pictures and ideas of how to use them in class for close reading:

 

The New York Times

 

I used this blog post to practice with my class. There are 10 pictures listed on this blog, so I made this page to go with the activity. Students write their thoughts, inferences, questions, and captions for the photographs.  This activity not only provided many great opportunities for deep discussions, but it was also so fun for the kids...and the teacher.

 

What Do You See?