Reading Response 4-ish Ways

For the past few years, choice reading has been the foundation of my reading pedagogy because choice values students as human beings with a range of interests, experiences, and tastes and because choice shares the responsibility of teaching with all the readers and books in the classroom. I rely on the authors to start conversations about the world with students in the pages of the books they carry.

It is, in fact, true that you (teachers) can teach all of the standards and all of the natural ways real readers read when your students are all reading different books.  And it is true that book groups, whole class novels, essays, articles, poetry, and spoken word are also very important in a rich reading life — so, of course, there is more to reading instruction that choice reading. Still, each student will have a reading life to contribute to discussions, and he/she will be the expert on those books and those reading experiences. In other words, if the only texts students read in class are shared texts, then the conversations will be rather narrow and privilege the loudest voices.

All this said, when teachers have from 90 to 180 students reading different books, it can be difficult to track what everyone is reading and even more difficult to assess comprehension, emotional reactions, and the identification and interpretation of author’s choices.

Documenting reading responses — written, verbal (in person/recorded) — is the best way I have found for me to assess students’ reading and for students to self-assess and set goals for their personal reading lives.

I have found that when students notice trends in their reading choices that they will make slight adjustments and be more willing to try new books.

I have also noticed that regular feedback on what students are noticing when they are reading will 1) promote a deeper appreciation for author’s craft and 2) improve meta-cognitive tendencies (or make them more aware or conscious of the many features of a rich reading life).

Reading response feel a lot like reading logs, but there is no parent signature or counting of minutes for a grade. The students must also own their progress. Too much monitoring creates a negative association with reading, so finding a balance of how and when to respond to reading or takes constant revision.

I offer here four different ways I have conducted reading responses and supported students in tracking their reading choices. The MOST important component is the modeling and practice during class time.  This is practice. I do not assess the practice. What I do not have here are the portfolios that we do every quarter, which I do assess because the portfolio shows the trends, evidence of comprehension and interpretation, and reading patterns. The portfolio is owned by the students and narrated by them — their voices talking through their reading lives. Only after gathering the data can they see trends and set new goals.

The focus of this post is just to show how I tried to understand each student as a unique reader while teaching and assessing the standards:  1) Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis. 2) Determine a theme and analyze its development. 3) Analyze how particular elements of a story interact (setting shapes character or plot). 4) Determine meanings of words and phrases including figurative and connotative meanings. 5) Read and comprehend a  RANGE — widely and deeply — from diverse cultures and different time periods with various text structures.

First quarter reading responses:

• Model Noticing Author’s Craft: Model how to create and use the Google Form to track their reading pace, choices in genre and text structure, and response (see video below). Show students how you think about the text and use reasoning and evidence to think through this.
• Homework: Expect two or more additional responses at home for practice. Give feedback on one a week in class and adjust the modeling instructions to tweak the quality of reading responses. While students are reading do NOT read, too. Instead, use this time to check in with students to praise their reading progress or offer suggestions/revisions.
• Evidence Form: Each student should make his/her OWN form and be in control. Have students share their form with you and insert a link to their form for you on a class hyperdoc roster.  (See below for screenshots; click the link for an example.)
• Video  Tutorial:  Instructions for how to use the “track your own progress” reading form for students (a tutorial):
• Responses format:  Model, practice,  and assess how students do the following:
  • Answer the question they’ve selected to ponder about their reading (see response stems below). 
  • Explain the answer (reasoning).
  • Use for example or because to point to what prompted this thinking.
  • Include a page number from the text (35) to show in-text citation.
• Response stems to help students with independent practice:
  • Notice and Note: What was something the character realized or hasn’t realized yet? Why is that? How will this change things?
  • Notice and Note: What is something (an object, a word, a place, a conflict) that comes up again and again? What might this symbolize (love, hate, grief, the past, forgiveness, friendship)?
  • Notice and Note: What is a time when the character is remembering something in the past or the book flashes back? Why is this important to the character’s personality, concerns, or the book’s conflict?
  • Think about a setting in your book. If you were in the setting, what are some things you might see?
  • Describe an important event from your book and tell how it impacted different characters.
  • Who is your favorite character in your book? Why is this character your favorite- personality, values, choices, interests?
  • What do you think happened just before your story started? What about that created the opportunity for this story?
  • If you could give the main character in your book some advice, what would you tell him or her?
  • Is your book funnier or more serious? Why do you think so? What does the author do to make it so?
  • What point of view is your book written in? How does it help you understand the thinking of characters? 
  • Do you like the main character of your book? Why or why not?
  • Think of an important event in your book. How would the story have changed if this event had not happened?
  • If you could ask the main character of this book three questions, what would you ask?
  • Think about your book. Then finish this sentence: I wonder….
  • Think of a new title for you your book. Why do you think this is a good title?
  • In what ways would this book be different if it were set 100 years in the past?
  • What is the main conflict that the main character in your book must face?
  • What are some important relationships in your book?
  • Think about a supporting character in your book. How would the book be different if that character did not exist?

Second quarter reading responses:

• Model making claims about texts: Using  CER – claim, evidence, reasoning- model with your student another way of thinking about reading response. It is not entirely different from quarter one, but it is a shift in thinking. Instead of talking about “what’s going on in the book,” readers are making claims about the implications of what is going on. This shift builds confidence in readers and opens up nuance as well.  Practice CER with a common text — a short story or whole class novel. We read The Outsiders.  (See chart below.)
• Homework: Keep this the same as in first quarter or adjust it as needed. I expected three (3) total responses a week on their evidence form. I assessed one. Give students feedback and then adjust your modeling to help students think deeply about the claims they are making. Emphasize that the reasoning should be the longest part of this response.
• Evidence Form: Use the same Google form as first quarter.  You will really see a shift in the tone and insight in responses, but you may also see a decline in personal responses, so I added another column R – response to get students to think personally about the claim they made.
• Response Format: CER(R)
• Responses Stems:  (See image below.)

Third quarter reading responses:

• Model how to personalize the responses by giving students a range of methods for sharing their reading experiences.
  • Vlog (videos)
  • Quotemaker (design quotes from the text followed by explanations)
  • Booksnaps (picture of the page of a book with a box around a quote and thought bubbles explaining it)
  • Journal/Diary (doc, slides, or pictures of a notebook to discuss your reading)
  • Blog (typed directly into the body of the blog)
• Homework:  Ask for one response during the week and one on the weekend. Make time for the one during the week so that you can check and offer feedback. Assess the one they do independently and give feedback on that, too.
• Evidence of learning: You will no longer use the Google form.  Ask students to use the class roster hyperdoc to link to the site or place they will share their medium.
• Response format: Students will do claim, evidence (quote) and reasoning, but with greater emphasis on the reasoning and response in their medium.
  • Date of response
  • Title of book
  • Author’s name
  • Pages read since last response
  • Claim- character, setting, conflict, author, symbolism, big issue, connections, great words, emotion
  • Quote- text evidence with page (32)
  • Explanation of what is going on in the book that helps us understand why this claim is important to think about as a person, a reader.
  • Analysis of what key words mean in the quote denotation and connotation
  • Analysis of how the words in the quote prove your claim.
  • State your opinion, connection, emotional response, reaction.

Fourth quarter reading responses:

• Model a formal reading response with two substantial paragraphs. The first is a summary (not retelling) with a quote supporting an element of the summary, and the second is a response related to the summary.  Do the first one together and include your own example so that students can refer back to it for the detail and length. ( See instructions below.) EXAMPLE from Dr. Donovan — summary paragraph, response paragraph, 300ish words:
  • Today is April 10, 2017. The title of the book I am reading is Mary’s Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein. The author is Lita Judge. This book is 320 pages, and I am on page 84. To summarize the story so far, Mary needs to figure out how to adjust to moving back home in London, but her step-mother is controlling her once creative, happy father, making him give money for her daughter and not for Mary and her sister, so Mary works at the family bookstore where she meets a handsome writer. The author, Lita Judge, writes, “A thousand gales rage/before Father insists/I come home again./I am no longer a girl/weary with disappointment./I have become a rock and wind and fiery sea” (48). In this poem, Mary compares herself to the nature that surrounds her: a rock, wind, fiery sea. The wind and fire are part of nature, and the rock can withstand it all. Mary is abandoning what may be seen as weak or “girly” emotions like “weary with disappointment” to grow up. It is clear that she is accepting the conditions of her family and ready to find her own path.
  • My emotional response when reading this was a combination of sadness and pride for Mary. I was sad that she seems to be forced to grow up so fast but pride that she is finding the strength to overcome the circumstances. This issue of step-families is something that I think some teens can relate to — if they have a blended family or if they have friends who come from a blended family. I would recommend Mary’s Monster to anyone who likes verse AND graphic novels because this book is illustrated, too, and I think it is cool to learn about the author of Frankenstein.

• Homework: This is due just once a week and will not be done in class.
• Evidence: This will be done as a written response on Google docs or, as I preferred, Kidblog.  The shared blog space allows students to see what their peers are reading and add to their to-read list.  Asses this weekly. Give students feedback after each one so that they can revise and adjust as needed. The final responses of the school year should need almost no revision.
• Format: