OK, let’s get the Day 2 PM part of the conference rolling. We’ve already addressed a number of
classroom strategies and subject-by-subject techniques, so I think I’ll start with some very general
ideas, then talk a bit about creating a visual-spatial classrooom. Please feel free to post any
questions on specifically how to teach XYZ to these kids or if you’d like me to talk more about
Organizational Skills. And please, homeschoolers and others, though the following is an excerpt
from my book for teachers, I hope you’ll grant me some leeway and understand that much of this
will work in your unique environments, too. My next post will be chapter 11 from The Visual-Spatial
Classroom – Helping Your Students Stay Focused.
From The Visual-Spatial Classroom:
Using fantasy
Fantasy is a powerful form of visual thinking and is particularly useful when teaching about
subjects that your students cannot experience firsthand.
A fantasy in which students imagine themselves either as a membrane or as a molecule passing
through a membrane creates inner imagery which is useful to visual thinkers and provides concrete
experience that has the power to stimulate and involve… (Williams, 1983, p. 32.)
You can use fantasy, simulation and role-playing to teach your students in a number of different
areas, particularly science and social studies. Re-enactments of significant historical periods help
to secure new knowledge and make learning fun; imaginary travel to faraway places—even
impossible ones like microscopic worlds—allows students to envision what life may have been like
through another’s eyes or as another form. “One of the more dramatic examples of the power of
this type of thinking, Albert Einstein’s fantasy of himself riding a ray of light, played an important
role in the discovery of the theory of relativity.” (Williams, 1983, p. 117.) Classroom use of fantasy
should incorporate plenty of time for students to create their images and encouragement for them
to pursue this way of learning. It should be devoid of any preconceived notions of how one should
create and experience the fantasy. One child’s fantasy of life as a certain species of animal or of
traveling to Ancient China will be quite unlike another’s. This is a technique that every student will
enjoy and one that your visual-spatial students will find a successful strategy in creating and
recalling permanent images.
Using metaphors
Helping students see connections between what they know and understand and something new
they are learning, even though the two may appear completely unrelated, can facilitate that
learning and help it become permanent. “If there’s no connection to the learner’s experience, the
information gets lost and becomes just another meaningless memorization ritual.” (Ornstein, 1997,
p. 171.) Working with metaphors can be a powerful strategy to aid students in making connections.
Example:
The performance of a car is very much like that of the human body. Where the car makes use of a
pump to distribute the fuel needed for movement, the body uses a specialized heart. Where the car’
s fuel is gasoline, the body’s is food; a car utilizes filters just as the body has an entire waste
system, including kidneys; and the car releases exhaust, just as the human body rids of waste.
With a little imagination, you can probably create metaphors for nearly every subject you teach.
When new material is presented as being quite familiar to something they already know, students
can use that connection later to recall information accurately.
The real key is in teaching your students to use metaphorical thinking in their own pursuits. How is
what they are learning this day similar or different to something they learned before? How does it
compare to something they already know about? How is it like something from popular culture?
Encourage your class to seek connections by asking, “Is what we’re learning similar to when we
studied _____?” By creating their own metaphors, students call upon their personal experiences,
which they own and can easily recall. Using Venn diagrams can help in soliciting metaphors from
your students. With a visual representation of how two subjects are alike and different, students
can often take the concept and run with it. Here’s an example of a Venn diagram using the same
human body/car analogy:
One more note about using metaphors in your teaching and testing of new material. When material
is tested in the same form in which it was presented, typically a verbal or written account of dates
and places, students are encouraged only to memorize and regurgitate the information. They are
not motivated to make any connections or engage in any new thinking. It isn’t even necessary for
them to understand what they are regurgitating, which is why we see so often that immediately
following an exam, students can no longer recall the material. The information has been purged
from their memories. Test questions based on metaphors, however, are an excellent way to
evaluate comprehension. Compare the following (from Teaching for the Two-Sided Mind):
List the major events leading up to the French Revolution and explain their importance.
versus,
How was the period leading up to the French Revolution like the building up of a thunderstorm? Be
sure to include in your analogy the major events leading up to the Revolution.
A student might memorize the answer to the first question, but not the second. The analogy
question requires that students not only know the events leading up to the Revolution but
understand them well enough to explain their significance in terms of something else, in this case, a
thunderstorm. (Williams, 1983, p. 71)
Make learning fun!
Another strategy you can use to remember information that has related pieces is to create a game
of the material. This works great for memorizing capitals of states, countries of continents, specific
animals of a species, or any other material that includes two groups of information that are related
to each other. Matching games like “Concentration” (some people call it “Memory”) don’t take long
to make and you can solicit your students’ help. Plus, they’re fun to play! Just take some blank
white index cards for recording your information. You can make each note card with words or
drawings, whatever works best for you. Let’s suppose your students are trying to memorize the
state capitals. They should make a card for every state. They might use an outline of the state with
the name included somewhere on or above the outline of it. Then, they should make a card for
every capital. Have fun together making up silly stories if that helps them remember the names of
the capitals. You can also use color to help students remember which capitals go with which states.
Just have them include color in their drawings or put a dot of color somewhere on the state card
and the same color dot on the card the matching capital card. This will be a good way to make sure
their answers are correct while they play the game, too.
Once all of the cards have been created, lay them face down and play the traditional game of
concentration where you match capital to state. (You’ll probably want to start with just five or seven
states and their capitals and gradually increase the number.) You’ll need to lay out (upside down)
several cards with capitals, then several cards with states. Turn two cards over, a match of a state
and its capital means the student collects the cards. If there’s no match, turn the cards back over
and start again.
More use of pictures
When students have difficulty with something you are presenting, try having them draw what
they do understand. Visual-spatial students may be better able to draw what they know and then
see how to fill in the blanks than they are able to discuss with you. Often, when visualizing an
image, they may have trouble translating the gaps into questions. Their drawings can be in the form
of diagrams, maps, structures, illustrations that communicate their understanding to a certain point,
etc., it just depends what they’re studying and how much they grasp so far!
Any time you encourage your students, whether they’re visual-spatial or auditory-sequential, to
incorporate images—those they draw, diagram, or mentally create—you’ve increased the likelihood
they will retain new information, permanently.
Creating a Visual-Spatial Classroom
I hope that the real life stories of visual-spatial kids who’ve found that these differentiation
strategies helped them succeed in the classroom convince you to try them with your own students.
Some of the tips, like using fantasy or incorporating metaphors, may take more preparation time
than others. Some of the recommendations, like offering Alternative Assignments to traditional book
reports and research papers may mean more work for you in the evaluation and assessment
process. But, most will add fun and entertainment to your day and lessons. All will make the
learning more meaningful and permanent for each and every student you teach.
If you feel you can’t begin incorporating visual-spatial friendly strategies for the whole class right
away, try some of these ideas with just a student who is failing. See what happens.
If you’re ready to start creating a visual-spatial classroom right away, I applaud you! You will be
immensely satisfied with the results. You will learn along the way what works, what doesn’t and you
probably come up with many of your own classroom strategies. I’d love to hear them! You can e-
mail me with questions or to share your ideas at alex@visualspatial.com. Be sure to visit our
website, Visual-Spatial Resource (www.visualspatial.org), where you’ll find new ideas being posted
all the time.
As you embark on reinventing your classroom, differentiating for the visual-spatial learners, and
making it a more successful environment for all your students, here are some simple guidelines to
ask yourself:
1. Am I presenting the material visually?
2. Are there additional maps, diagrams, charts, photos, hands-on activities or other materials I
should incorporate?
3. Am I giving students enough time?
4. Are there opportunities for students to demonstrate mastery in visual-spatial friendly ways?
5. Am I successfully differentiating by honoring each student for his or her preferred learning
style?
If you find that you are having difficulty adding strategies that are visual-spatial friendly, the
following list may help you come up with just the technique you need:
Overhead projector – what can you present on a transparency?
Computer – how can your students use classroom computers, the Internet, and computers at home
to reinforce this lesson?
Diagrams, charts, graphs, movies, posters – how else can I present this material?
Maps, globes, atlases – how else can I show where?
Timelines, hands-on activities, field trips – how else can I show when or who?
Colored pens, folders, Post-It Notes, index cards – how else can I help students get organized?
Manipulatives, games, demonstrations, experiments, models – how else can I show students?
Dramatizations, role-playing, fantasy – how else can I engage students?
Metaphors, Venn diagrams – how I else can I help students see connections?
Dioramas, storyboards, puppet shows – how else can students show mastery?
Fidgets, doodling, walkabouts – how else can I accommodate kinesthetic needs?
I’d like to encourage you to incorporate Student Portfolios in your class. These should be folders
each student designs and determines what goes into. It should be a reflection of their best work—
not necessarily what they received the highest grade on, but that work of which they are the most
proud. It could be something like a spelling test they took after they tried a new, visual-spatial
technique, or a report they wrote by starting with a web. I’ve included a Log for your students to
record their work, why they selected it to be included in the Portfolio and the date. Encourage
parents to come in and review their student’s Portfolio on occasion or use the Portfolio during
conferences.
These visual-spatial students of yours will always be picture-thinkers. They need to be motivated to
use their talents and gifts, even after they leave your class. Encourage them to consider careers in
higher level mathematics, science, invention, architecture, surgery, cartooning, aeronautics or
cartography. All of these are specialties that make use of their ability to think in multiple dimensions
and from varied perspectives.
School will probably be the only time visual-spatial students feel they are not as bright or capable
as their auditory-sequential friends. Beyond this time, in college and in the careers they choose,
these children will grow to feel the strengths of their right hemispheres are truly a gift. In creating a
visual-spatial classroom, you can help them understand their gifts earlier and enjoy success in so
many areas beyond the Three R’s of ‘ritin’, readin’ and ‘rithmetic. Be their cheerleader, their
mentor, and the adult in their lives, other than their parents, that truly cares about them. The strong
emotional bond many visual-spatial students feel about the one teacher that truly understood them
lasts their entire lifetime.
Be that teacher.