Double Entry Journal?
This is a great task to use in class during and 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 that 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 it to your blog using quotation 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 below:
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Add analytical depth for each quote, see examples below:
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“What does this reveal about the character/setting/theme?”
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“Why did the author include this moment here?”
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“How does this change or confirm your understanding of the book so far?”.
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My reading of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Julie former student of Sasndvika high school.
“No, I´m serios. I always knew you were going to leave. I always knew you were going to leave us behing and travel the world. I had this dream about you a few months ago. You were standing on the Great Wall of China. You looked happy. And I was happy for you.”
Rowdy didn´t cry. But I did.
“You´re an old-time nomad,” Rowdy said. “You´re going to keep moving all over the world in search of food and water and grazing land. That´s pretty cool.”
I could barely walk.
“Thank you,” I said.
This part is from the last page of the book. Arnold and Rowdy are friends again, something that proves Arnold is still a part of his old community. Rowdy describes Arnold as a nomad. Maybe he was a nomad all the time, or maybe he developed as one. I believe a little bit of both. He was not nearly as brave or confident at the start of the book, he have been on a big journey.
See example here and include these topisc;
Theme, setting, plot and character development.
End the assignment with writing your impression of the book.
- How was it compared to your expectations?
- Write 5-8 questions about the book that you want me to ask you when we talk about the book.
Use ths rubric as a guidance: RUBRIC FOR JOURNAL
