Guided Imagery

Guided imagery is a powerful method for stimulating thought and accessing knowledge in which information is processed through the visual imagination.

It is often used to anticipate a new learning experience by asking students to picture the sensory elements of an event, place, material, process, etc. through their mind’s eye.

Implementation

1. Be sure to model visualization through a think-aloud before asking students to do the same.

· Use a rich context that has elements of all five senses.

2. Expect some students to balk or feel uncomfortable with this approach when it is first used.

· Introduce it gradually over time through ever increasingly complex examples.

1. Be sure to model visualization through a think-aloud before asking students to do the same.

· Use a rich context that has elements of all five senses.

2. Expect some students to balk or feel uncomfortable with this approach when it is first used.

· Introduce it gradually over time through ever increasingly complex examples.

Classroom Management

1. Ask students to close their eyes, relax, and take several deep breathes as you describe an image or read a passage of text.

· Alternately, you can substitute a recorded reading or speech, song, sound (e.g., wave crashing on shore, train whistle, whale sounds, noise of crowd), process, etc.

1. Encourage students to imagine what they see, hear, taste, smell, and feel during this activity.
2. Ask students to make a list of words or phrases to describe their mental images and emotions that emerged while you were speaking.
3. Share students’ mental pictures with the large group.