Double Entry Journal?

This is a great task to use in class after the students have read their novel. Every student should be able to do this task. It is a lot more challenging task than just writing a summary or answering questions that you find in a textbook or you as a teacher give the students. Using the double entry journal the students are forced to reflect on their reading and to give examples of sections in the book that are important and explain why they think they are important. This will also test the students’ understanding of the text.

How to write a double entry journal

Find important parts of your book regarding these topics: Theme, setting, plot and character development.
Choose a quote/paragraph from the book that relates to each topic and copy them to your blog using quotations marks and italic text. Use the topics as headlines.
After each paragraph, with your own words, explain their significance according to the topic. See an example here:

Lesson plan:

Write an entry on your blog. Call it my reading of…..(name of book)
Follow the points mentioned above regarding: Theme, setting, plot and character development.
End the blog post by writing your impression of the book! How was it compared to your expectations?
Write 5-8 questions about the book to use in your book circle/radio show.
Use this rubric to self-assess and grade your performance RUBRIC FOR JOURNAL