Value of Reading Journals

Wow! The readings this week were insanely thought-provoking, and I had a very difficult time deciding to which amazing idea I wished to respond. I decided to settle on a paragraph in Linkon that struck me as familiar. I am not sure if anyone else’s school uses the McDougall/Little “Language of Literature” textbooks for their middle/high school English classes. Or if anyone has ever read about using Reading Workshops in their classroom. In either case, they recommend each student having a Reading Journal.

Mine all have writing journals, and they use them quite frequently, but what they don’t have is a reading journal. The way they had always been described to me before made them seem…not quite useful. But Linkon’s view of the Reading Journal made me stop and think that I should try and use them in the classroom. On pg. 262, she notes that she has her students stop anytime they find themselves responding to a text, rather than the typical “look for this, this, and this, and write it down in your reading journal when you find it” assignments I had always heard about. Linkon’s suggestion makes much more sense to me, as it breaks down the student’s reading process, so that both the student and teacher can see exactly what goes through the student’s mind as they read, thus working together to solve any comprehension issues, but also engaging both student and teacher in academic discussion.

She also has them write a few lines if they didn’t feel compelled to stop, which also makes sense and hopefully deters the typical, “I didn’t get it,” response that students like to make, sometimes when they struggle, and other times when they just don’t want to take the time to read thoroughly. At least if they are writing a few lines at the end, it’s almost like a shortened difficulty paper, in that it asks students to be active in identifying why they didn’t “get it.” Having the students talk about their questions and difficulties in class also ensures that students are engaging each other in academic discussion, which involves more critical thinking than having the teacher answer all of their questions.

Though I believe Linkon is writing more about college students, I think her ideas could definitely be pared down to high schoolers. As I mentioned earlier, the readings this week really got me thinking about my students and new ideas for the classroom that it was hard to choose which to mention on this blog! But I do believe Linkon’s version of a reading journal might really be worth considering.

One thought on “Value of Reading Journals

  1. Professor Sample

    Yes, Linkon is definitely writing about college students. Maybe in class we can come up with some ideas on how to pare the reading journal and other ideas down for high schoolers.

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