A great way to engage students in new content is to give them a visual, such as an illustration, photograph, or artifact to get their minds ready for what they are about to learn. This can be especially powerful in science and social studies.

One of my favorite ways to use these visuals as an introductory method is to have students participate in a Gallery Walk. A Gallery Walk is when students walk freely around the room to different stations observing photos, posters, artifacts, and/or illustrations. These visual can be hung up on the walls, or even displayed on tables throughout the room. Near each visual, I like to keep a piece of blank poster paper for students to jot down things they notice about the visuals or to write comments and thoughts that they have related to the visual.