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British Lit 1 Reading Responses
BRITISH LIT I READING LOG
A reading log is a summary and/or response to assigned material. Each log should be dated and written on a new page in your composition notebook and must include at least one direct quotation from the reading. To make a C, you must write at least 1/2 a page for each log. To make an A or B, the log must be longer.
During any class you might be asked to hand in the log for that day, you might be asked to exchange logs with another student, or you might be asked to read it aloud.
Suggestions for what to write about:
l. If the material is difficult or if you're having a hard time concentrating, keep a running log as you read of what's happening (e.g., lines 1-22: Wordsworth is talking about returning to Tintern Abbey after five years' absence; 22-57: He's talking about what nature can do for man.) At the end of such a log, write down idesa or feelings you've had while reading.
2. Keep a running log of questions that occur to you as you're reading. Skip several lines between each question. When you're finished reading, go back and see how many you can answer. For those that you still can't answer, guess (that is, write what you think the answer might be.)
3. Keep a list of characters and key information about each. Choose one or more of the characters and discuss something that interested you about him or her, or discuss why the author presented the character in that particular way.
4. Keep a list of images or a list of all the occurances of a particular image. Speculate on why the author used those images.
5. Discuss the author's word choice. Choose a passage you liked or were interested in. Underline several words in it. Think of other words the writer could have chosen. Then, try to give the reasons the author chose to use those particular words.
6. Discuss the theme of the material. What's the author trying to say?
7. Write about anything that interested or moved you.
8. Copy lines you liked and tell why you liked them.
9. Complete the blanks in the following: While reading (name a specific part of the text), I was struck by ; OR I was surprised by ; OR I was confused by .
10. Write about something that either raises a question or provokes a response in your classmates (that is, say something that you think most people would disagree with).
11. Write exactly what you thought and felt as you were reading.
12. Do you like this material? Why or why not?
13. Do you feel there is an opinion expressed by the author through this work? What is it? How do you know this? Do you agree? Why or who not?
14. If you were an English teacher, would you want to share this work with your students? Why or why not?
15. Is this a classic? What makes it a classic?
16. What did you learn? How did you learn it?