As regular readers know, the Picture Word Inductive Model is one of my favorite instructional strategies for Beginning English Language Learners.

I’ve written a lot about it at The Best Ways To Use Photos In Lessons.

Good as it is, however, it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

In other words, applying the step-by-step process all the time can grow tiresome for teachers and students alike.

That’s why I’ve posted The Best Ways To Modify The Picture Word Inductive Model For ELLs.

Today, Mary Stokke, an exceptionally talented student teacher who is working with me this year, used a strategy that I realized I hadn’t included on that “Best” list. It’s a modification of some strategies, however, that you will find on The Best Resources On Close Reading Paintings, Photos & Videos.

Mary projected a photo from our U.S. History book of Christopher Columbus that she had used in the typical PWIM process and then drew “quadrants” where students worked in pairs to expand the image to what they might imagine would be there if the picture was bigger.  Student then applied the usual PWIM process to those new additions by identifying words and writing sentences about them.

Here’s the image (in retrospect, it probably would have been better to tape white paper on the text surrounding the picture so that students drawings were more clear.  But, as Mary said, it was, nevertheless, “crazy and fun.”

pwimcolumbus