As you read, you will encounter quotations from the text that you find interesting, problematic,
disturbing, validating, comforting, challenging, or for any other reason strike you as significant.
When coming across such a quotation, copy it into your journal entry and then write your
thoughts and feelings about the quotation.
Your thoughts about the quotation should not be
superficial observations, but should be detailed and specific and should engage with the text in a
deep and meaningful way. Then, when you encounter another such quotation in the text, you
copy that quotation and repeat the process. A complete journal entry should contain 3-4
quotations and corresponding personal responses. When you write your thoughts about each
quotation, consider strategies that:
- Raise questions about the beliefs and values implied in the text.
- Raise questions about your own beliefs and values related to the text.
- Explore the relevance of the text to your own experiences in schools as a student and teacher.
- Explore your personal reactions and deeper feelings about the text.
- Agree or disagree with the author.
- Consider the ideas in the text from the perspective of a different author.
- Analyze the text for use of literary devices (tone, structure, style, imagery. etc.).
- Make connections between different ideas in the same text.
- Make connections to a different text (or film, song, etc.).
- Analyze a passage and its relationship to the text as a whole.
Chose significant and interesting passages from the text, provided thorough quotations of your selected passages, provide insightful observations, commentary, and connections about the text, and write detailed and relevant stories about your personal experiences related to the text, and any struggles with ideas in the text that you found problematic or challenged you.
