Preview the selection and its Related Readings. Look at the painting on page 188 and the photographs on pages 193 and 199. Read all of the Prereading information on page 185. Discuss with a partner what you think the story will be about. Make a short mind movie about the boy in the photograph on page 193. In your mind, visualize an incident from this boy’s experience in the Civil War.
1. Close your eyes and visualize the story as your teacher reads aloud the first three pages of “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh.” How does the setting look? How does the boy feel? Focus on capturing all of the sensory elements of the description in your mental images.
2. Continue reading the rest of the story silently, visualizing descriptions in your mind as you read. Mark passages that you find difficult to visualize by using sticky notes or jotting down page and paragraph numbers.
If you encounter difficulty visualizing a particular section of the text, stop and reread the section to identify sensory details. Record the sensory details in a five-column chart, with a column for each of the senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell. Review the sensory-details chart and try to imagine one of the details, and then add another sensory detail to the image. Repeat the process until you have incorporated all of the sensory details into your image.
In a small group, discuss your mind images of the story. Include descriptions of the setting, the characters, and the actions. Compare the passages you found difficult to visualize and discuss why you found them so. Then, share how you overcame the difficulty.