“In this month’s blog post we ask teachers about their use of Anne Sibley O’Brien and Dr. Andrea Breau’s protocol in their classrooms. If you did not use her protocol, we would like you to write about how you have been using the “I’m Your Neighbor, Exploring this Story & Your Own” guides at the back of each picture book.”

During my recorded video lesson for February I opened my lesson with aspects of Visual Thinking Strategy that Anne Sibley O’Brien spoke about in her presentation. I showed students the cover of the book and we started our lesson by just looking at the cover illustrations and starting conversations. Reflecting back, and even in the moment, I thoroughly enjoyed using those strategies with my students. The students were free to explore and speculate what the story was going to be about with very little direction from me. There were no wrong answers so students were eager to share and with a little encouragement from me were able to discuss sensitive topics. 

I’ve been using the “I’m Your Neighbor, Exploring this Story & Your Own” guides when reading the books with students. I find they’re great conversation starters and get students thinking a bit deeper about the story. I also have students that ask to borrow the books during free reading and I’ve seen quite a few of them looking over the questions in the back as well. Having quality picture books about interesting and important topics like these is great exposure for the students. The question guides at the back allow for thoughtful and purposeful class discussions to continue to explore these topics in a productive and respectful manner.