Reading Rainbow: Using Art to Help Metacognitive Reading Strategies

Consider a lesson plan you might use.  Which metacognitive skills/abilities are involved as students gain facility/knowledge in this domain?

I just completed an enlarged book designed to facilitate a read aloud in the classroom (this was for reading education, not art education.) However, the process of making this book gave me some ideas to facilitate art processes, as well as reading comprehension in the classroom. A large part of reading comprehension is using visual cues to help you figure out what it is you're reading about. 

The lesson I am proposing would follow this sequence: First grade students would participate in several read-alouds during class time. The teacher would walk them through the book step-by-step, asking them to look at the pictures and describe whats going on, and to relate it to the text. The students would then be placed in groups of three. Each group would be asked to collaborate on a story. As students were working on their story, the teacher would work with each group individually asking them to explain how their stories work. Students would need to relate the mechanics of their piece to the piece we'd read in class. Does it have a beginning? Is there a pattern the text follows? Is there a middle? An end? Is it a fantasy or adventure? Why? Who are your characters? How do we know what their personalities are like?

After students had completed their stories, the teacher would ask them to take a moment and visualize the events in their story. Students would then need to plan the illustrations. When the time came to draw the actual illustrations for each page, the teacher would ask them to think about the steps they took to make each rough draft. Students would then present their pieces to the class. They would be asked to explain how the text and vocabulary on a page related to the illustrations.  They would also need to explain what prior knowledge of story mechanics they drew on to make their books.

Using metacognition reading strategies.

The second section of this article I found particularly useful.