We know that good readers visualize characters or the information in the text as they are reading. Research shows that students  are more likely to remember new factual information in nonfiction books if the student tries to “see” the information as it is presented in the text. Teachers can help students better develop this ability in several ways.  The first  is by modeling the process yourself as you are reading text. Say things to the students like, “This description helps me see in my mind…..” or “The way I picture this process is…..” or something similar. When students hear how you create mental images, it helps them also think about their own connections and mental images. The second way is by asking students to create graphic organizers of various types to show their mental images of what they have been reading in a non-fiction text. For fiction, call student’s attention to particularly descriptive passages in the text and ask them to think about the text and then draw either the setting or the character as they envision him or her from the selection of text. You can also use picture books such as Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney, When Grampa Kissed His Elbow by Cynthia DeFelice or even passages out of Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White or The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman that are particularly descriptive to help students improve their text  visualization skills.