How to Use Picture Books to Teach in Middle & High School

Use picture books in upper-level classrooms.

Picture books in the secondary classroom produce remarkable results. Students immediately cease talking and become engrossed in reading. This love of picture books can be used to enhance classroom learning at the middle and high school levels.

It is easy to engage students in learning when teachers incorporate picture books into their lessons to explain difficult and complex concepts as well as simple ideas. The visual reference of picture books increases student retention of those complex themes and concepts. Picture books let students explore the concepts of show and tell in their writing and art.

Instructions

Picture Books in Middle School

1. Teach description using "The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg. The illustrations are loaded with details essential to telling of the story. His prose uses visual and sensory vocabulary that students should try to emulate in their writing.

2. Illustrate the rhythm of rhyming words and repetition through Dr. Seuss's picture books. "Fox on Sock" sings with rhyming words, while "Green Eggs and Ham" lets students explore the use of repetition.

3. Explain adaptation and retelling easier with stories from your own childhood and picture books. Steven Kellogg's adaptation of "Chicken Little" lets students explore the similarities and differences with "To Market, To Market" retold by Anne Miranda.

4. Introduce the theme of "The Pearl" with the reading of Robin Muller's "The Magic Paintbrush." Muller tells the story of a boy who wishes to be an artist and is given a magic paintbrush that brings to life the objects that he paints. Theme approached this way becomes transparent and easy to understand.

5. Explain to beginning artists how the choice of the right colors creates striking visual effects. Frank Asch's "The Earth and I" shows how the use of vivid and bold colors paints unforgettable pictures for readers.

6. Demonstrate the importance of designing pictures before picking up a paintbrush or ink pen with picture books. "Owen" by Kevin Henkes and "The Mitten" by Jan Brett both use the design of pages differently to pull the reader into the text.

Picture Books in High School

1. Explore poetic conventions through picture books. The effectiveness of end rhyme and internal rhyme become apparent when students read "There's a Wocket in My Pocket" by Dr. Seuss. "Scrambled Eggs Super," also by Dr. Seuss, combines rhyme, internal rhyme and alliteration into an entertaining story.

2. Demonstrate the importance of point of view. Use the original stories of Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs along with "The Wolf's Story: What Really Happened to Little Red Riding Hood" and "The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!" Both of these picture books show students how changing the point of view changes a story.

3. Write about and understand characterization with the vivid illustrations found in picture books. Learning becomes an in-depth experience when students are asked to put into words the descriptions of a character throughout a picture book. They learn how to interpret expression and actions and put those interpretations into words.

4. Illustrate different techniques in drawing and painting using picture books to help students visualize the concepts. Proportion and coloring are two techniques better understood by examining several types of picture books. Some ones to use are Rebecca Heller's "Baby Animals on the Farm" and Barbara Steincrohn Davis' "Forest Hotel."

5. Explore motion in art with the use of "The Pussycat Tiger" by Joan Chase Bacon. Students observe examples of many types animals in motion. William Neebe's illustrations in Jules M. Lieberthal's "Muggsy The Make-Believe Puppy" underscore the advancements made in motion simulation since this picture book was first published in 1961.

6. Demonstrate the importance of design in illustrations with any of Tomi de Paola's picture books. His pictures show how lines, shapes and sizing bring stories to life. "Strega Nona" is a popular book to use. "Ducklings" by Robert McCloskey lets students explore the effect of designing a book in just simple browns and whites. McCloskey's use of shadowing is also remarkable and a good study for students.

References

• JSTOR: The English Journal, Vol.87, No.2

Resources

• ReadWriteThink