KEEPING A RESPONSE JOURNAL
A response journal is an effective way to make connections between your own experiences and the literature you are reading. It offers a chance to ask questions, to make predictions, to imagine, to explore ideas, to wonder aloud, so to speak, about the literature. In reading the text, take some time every chapter to record your feelings, thoughts, questions, and observations. This is not a time to tell about or summarize what happens in the text, but a time to ponder how the reading strikes and influences you.
Your responses must be half a page in length and include a half page drawing of a significant event in the chapter. The image you create needs to be on unlined paper. I recommend an exercise book that has a half page lined and a half page blank or making your own by alternating a lined paged with a blank page. Label each entry with the chapter name and/or number. This response journal needs to be a separate book from your normal school binder as you will turn it in occasionally. Neatness and writing mechanics are limited only to readability. Do not rewrite or revise your responses. Do not worry about grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. The point of the journal is to let your ideas flow and to record your first impressions.
The following prompts offer possibilities for responding. Do not try to answer all of them in each response. Use those that most apply to what you have uncovered, discovered or puzzled about in your latest reading.
SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR RESPONSES TO LITERATURE
!!!DO NOT SUMMARIZE THE PLOT!!!
1. In this section, I was impressed or struck by...
2. I noticed....
3. I wonder about...
4. I predict...
5. One question I have is...
6. I don't understand...
7. Something I now understand...
8. Something I appreciate/do not appreciate about a character or event...
9. I imagine that...
10. If I were the author, I would...
11. I think (character) should...
12. I am confused because...
13. My favourite character is ___________ because...
14. I liked/disliked...
15. ________ reminds me of ________ because...
If other aspects strike you, include them. Do not limit yourself to the suggestions listed above. Each person responds to a text in different ways. The purpose of a response journal is not to test your knowledge, but to help you understand and make meaning of the literature in a personal way, and to ask your own questions.