The Power in Visualization
Just the other day while strolling through Target, a dress on a mannequin caught my attention. While veering my cart to take a closer look, I envisioned myself in that dress. Where would I wear it? I imagined it paired with the boots in my closet. I wondered how it would look dressed down with a sweater?
I was using the strategy of visualization.
We use visualization every day, likely without even realizing. Maybe you mentally rehearse a conversation prior to initiating. Maybe you see a coffee table you love and try to picture it in your living room. If you’re like me, you use visualization when giving directions: Just keep going until you see the blue house on the corner and then take a right. This week, I heard a woman being interviewed upon completion of the Boston Marathon. She had suffered a muscle strain with one mile to go and was not sure if she would finish. When the reporter asked her how she completed the race, her response was, “I just kept picturing myself crossing the finish line and the sounds of my family cheering and I just kept running.” There is power in visualization.
Research shows that our brain cannot differentiate between a visualization and something that we actually perform. Our brain “lights up” in the same way whether we are simply visualizing or experiencing the event. “Additionally, by using visualization daily, your brain will more readily allow any opportunities to meet your goals into your conscious awareness.” (Dr. Amy Palmer)
Using this superpower with students yields meaningful connections and deeper, more permanent memory storage. Some ideas of how this strategy can be applied in learning include:
Morning Meeting
At the start of Morning Meeting, have students close their eyes and picture themselves in a peaceful place while taking deep breaths. No matter the busyness of the morning, you will see their shoulders drop, bodies become still and engagement increase.
Routines/Gatherings
Mentally rehearse events before they occur. Ex. “We are going to have a fire drill in 10 minutes. This is what it will look like so that we are all prepared: We will leave the classroom quietly so that we can hear any directions. We will travel down the stairs on the left…” Parents can use this strategy in many ways, as well. Visualizing the visit to the dentist, missing the soccer goal or a disagreement with a friend can help better equip your child to process feelings in real time.
Literacy
While listening to a story/poem read aloud or independently, the mind should play each scene like a movie. Pause while reading. Who is there? What do you hear? Where is the setting? While writing, ask the student to close their eyes and visualize what they are seeing. What do they see/taste/smell in their story? Can they add in those sensory details to help the reader match the same descriptive picture in their mind?
Math
Ask the student to visualize what they are studying. What does a number line look like in their mental image? Number grid? Ten frame? Which number comes before 18? Can they hop backwards on their mental number line? What does ½ of a pizza look like? ¼ of a pizza? Read a story problem aloud and ask students to draw the problem.
Vocabulary
Creating mental images for words can deepen understanding and aid in quick retrieval from memory. Ex. What do you picture when you hear the word(s): rush, absorb, region, producer, scarce, divide, deduct, equator..
Deliberate activities for practicing the skill of visualization:
Play a song or sound (ex. alarm clock, train whistle, football game, cat purring) and ask students to share their mental image.
Soak cotton balls in different scents and ask students to share the mental image the scent triggered (ex. lemon, sunscreen, peppermint, bug spray, peanut butter).
Fill brown lunch bags with small items and ask students to reach in and share what they envision the item to be.
Small tastings (a raisin, grape, orange slice, chocolate chip). Each time I bite into a crisp apple, I am automatically hopping off the hayride to pick apples at Huber’s Orchard.
