Dear Students,
Each day as you read you will record your personal thoughts on your reading. Please date each entry.
Your reading journal is also a place for you, me and your friends to talk about the book you are reading
as well as your thoughts about the Middle Ages. You'll think about literature in letters to me and friends;
we'll write letters back to you. Our letters will become a record of the thinking, learning, and reading
we did together.
Letters should be at least a page long, skipping every other line. You will need to include a greeting,
body and a closing paragraph just as you would with any correspondence. In your letters tell what
you felt when you read your book and why. Tell what you noticed about how the author wrote.
Tell why you think he or she wrote this way. Tell what you liked and didn't and why. Tell how you
read a book and why. Tell what a book said and meant to you. Tell what it reminded you of--what
other books or experiences from you own life. Tell what surprised you. Ask questions for help. And
write back
about
our ideas, feeling, experiences,
and questions.
As a bare minimum you must write a letter to me or a friend in your
own journal at least once a week,
due by Friday morning. I need a letter from you at least once every two
weeks. This is only a minimum
requirement. You may pass a literary letter to me or to a friend as often
as you wish.
When you write a letter, give your journal to the person to whom the
letter is addressed; if that's me, put
your journal in my basket. When a friend gives you his or her journal,
You may write and respond to letters both during and outside reading workshop.
Number the pages of your reading journal, as in a book. Date your
letters in the upper right-hand corner.
Use a greeting and closing, just as you would in any friendly letter.
Mention the name of the author of the
book you're talking about and its title, and indicate the title by
Capitalizing and underlining it.
(E.g., Dove and Sword ).
I can't wait for us to begin reading together. And I can't wait for
your letters--for the chance
to learn from you, learn with you, and help you learn more.