[Angel Star]

After much thought and listening to all of your wonderful advice, I decided to abandon the "response journals". I had to think about what I wanted the kids to do and why I wanted them to do it. I had to ask myself, "what's good for the kids?". What I realized was this:

1. I want the kids to think when they read and to be aware of their thinking and use comprehension strategies- this is being accomplished through our interactive reading and "think alouds". The kids do really good thinking and do an incredible job verbalizing that thinking.

2. I want the kids to do this thinking independently - this was where I got stuck in the first place. How do I know that they are doing it? What evidence do I have? Starting today, I asked the kids to put at least 3 post-its in the books they are reading and to label those post-its to indicate which strategies they were using (they did great with this!)

3. I want the kids to show their thinking in a manner that means something to them - We decided together today that after they have 3 post-its, they should think about how they want to show their thinking. They can use the "strategy sheets" I've created and modeled (ones they've been using) OR they can create something on their own, even writing a letter to me (like in a response journal). I supplied them with lined and plain, index cards, construction paper...

I put up a very simple handmade poster:
Good Readers Think
-What am I thinking about?
-How can I show my thinking?

Near this, is some laminated pictures of kids reading with thought bubbles above them. Inside the bubbles are things like, "I have a connection", "This reminds me of...", "I can see...", "I predict...", "I infer...", etc. ( I made them from clip art).

I've mentioned before that this is a very creative/artsy group. They really seemed to like the idea of this. It was open-ended enough, but within structure, which I think works for them.

We had an extra long time for independent reading today, because they were so into it! They were reading, using post-its, and responding in all sorts of ways.

I think (I hope) this just might work! I'll keep you all posted!

[momfirst]

Wow- this has been SOOOOOOO helpful to read. I have been struggling SO much with how to move my studetns forward in their thinking about books. But, like you I don't want to put the pressure of having to write "a novel" WHILE they are reaidng to explain their thinking but I do want to know what they are thinking about. So, on the sticky notes do they have to write any explanations or are they simply writing 'connection' , 'mental image' , etc.????? I love your ideas and enjoyed reading your "thinking aloud"- very helpful.
Leslie

[Angel Star]

I told the kids that I wouldn't want their reading interrupted by recording their thinking on post-its. Therefore, they can write:

TTS=text to self connection
TTT=text to text connection
MI=mental image
QB=question before
QD=question during
QA=question after
I=inference

These are all abbreviations we've used during shared reading and think alouds.

HOWEVER, they CAN write things on their post-its if they want to. I realized the importance of this today when we read The Wise Woman and Her Secret together. The kids were spontaneously thinking aloud (predicting, asking great questions, inferring), so I started writing their thoughts down on the post-its (instead of a large chart as usual) and put them up on the mini-white board on my easel.

It was really helpful and I think it was a great way to model using the post-its (which I hadn't planned on doing today...it just happened!).

Afterward, we were able to revisit the post-its, which actually helped us to determine the author's message. And the predictions and inferences helped us to answer the questions we asked before reading!

I just love how this is all happening so organically! It is quite stimulating to me! The kids' thinking is what is leading the learning and the teaching!

[momfirst]

I think after reading your posts, I am going to make a checklist- 4 on a page, and I will cut the paper into fourths. The checklist will have all of these mentioned that you listed and that we have discusses (MI, Q, TtT connection, etc. That way they can just check when they use and I will leave room for notes and have them glue this into their journal and then write thoughts in their journals afterwards based on their observations from the checklist. You are on a roll!
Great thoughts at a time when I needed them most!
Thanks
Leslie

[teacher333]

THANK YOU for this post! We are new to the whole idea of all of these journals, and at times I think we are actually killing the students' desire to want to read - when was the last time you read a great book and then were told to write about it, what did you feel, what strategies did you use, how did you connect, i.e., text to self, text to text, and so on and so on. How did we ever learn to read back then without a system such as this?? In our District we even go further - we are told we MUST rubric their reading response journals on a scale of 0-4/4, and then average the grades into their total reading grade for that marking period. Isn't that grading someone on their opinion??