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What
is a Response Journal?
Response
journals require the students to write about what they felt while
reading a book or listening to a story.
What
is its purpose?
Response
Journals record student feelings, responses, and reactions to reading
texts. This strategy encourages students to think deeply about the
materials they read and to relate this information to their prior
knowledge and experiences. This interaction between reader and text
extends the reading experience into the "real life" application
of information.
Response Journals allow students to reflect on and raise questions
about a text. These journals are especially valuable for promoting
opinion making, value judgments, and critical thinking.
How
can I do it?
- Explain
the functions of the response journal to students. Stress that
the journal is personal—a place to express ideas, feelings,
questions, and opinions. Point out that there are no "right
answers" in response journals. Successful journals capture
high-quality student-text interaction.
- Provide
a model journal for students. Make sure that this model includes
observations, questions, critical judgments, opinions, and feelings.
Explain that while all of these are appropriate, students should
be able to distinguish opinion from observation and critical judgment
from feelings.
- Provide
journal sheets or booklets with prompting questions that will
help structure student responses. Encourage students to record
as many observations as they can.
- From
time to time, organize the class into small groups and allow students
to share their journal responses with their peers. Stress again
the functions of the journal and the fact that there are no "right"
or "wrong" answers.
Assessment
and Evaluation Considerations
The
response journal may be viewed as a piece of ongoing assessment.
Journal entries can be evaluated when teachers read students' journals,
when students share as a whole class, when students have literature
circles, or when students have individual conferences with the teacher.
Teachers may take notes on "post-it" notes or labels as
they listen or confer with students. They may keep records of reading
and writing strategies students have incorporated into their silent
reading.
As
part of self-evaluation, students may choose a piece of writing
from their reading response journals they would like to include
in their portfolio and explain what it shows they can do well or
might do better. Students may look back through their journal and,
with teacher assistance, evaluate which reading strategies have
been most helpful for them as they read and set specific goals for
their reading and writing.
Teacher
Resources
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