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READER RESPONSE APPROACHES AND STRATEGIES
READER RESPONSE APPROACHES AND STRATEGIES
When readers respond to a text they weave their personal ideas, feelings, thoughts and experiences together with the words, images and ideas in the text. There is no one correct response or one ’right’ answer but as readers have opportunities to talk with other readers and to reflect on what they are thinking, initial responses deepen and new understandings are uncovered.
RESPONSE JOURNALS/JOURNALING
RESPONSE JOURNALS/JOURNALING
Many teachers have students keep response journals. As students write a variety of reflective responses to some of the texts they are reading, they become better readers. Even students who struggle with reading and writing are able to make meaning of texts by recording their thinking in journals.
Response journals help readers:
explore their feelings
articulate and extend their own ideas and knowledge
clarify their understanding of the text
become actively engaged with their reading
Journals can include a variety of entry possibilities such as :
Double-entry journals have ideas or text excerpts in one column and reflections or explanations in the other. They encourage readers to reflect on select parts of the text.
In reading journals, students record their reactions or respond to open-ended prompts as they read a text.
Reading journals and double entry journals can be shared among students to support further discussions and may provide opportunities for feedback.
MAKING ANNOTATIONS AND NOTES
MAKING ANNOTATIONS AND NOTES
LISTING
LISTING
Another way for readers to enter into conversations with texts is to generate lists of things they notice, questions, and ideas during reading. Ideas can then be categorized and narrowed down, kept in a reader-writer notebook and shared with other readers.
MAPPING AND DIAGRAMMING
MAPPING AND DIAGRAMMING
Visual maps and diagrams help readers help readers perceive thoughts in visual form. Students chart out and identify the relationships between different aspects of the text. For example, circle maps can be used to illustrate the relationships between different characters in a narrative text. Other diagramming strategies include chalk talk, mind maps and graffiti.
QUICKWRITES
QUICKWRITES
Quickwriting helps focus student thinking. Students write non-stop for a specific time period without taking time to edit, censor or revise initial reactions to the text.
Quickwrites may be about a short text (poem, image, illustrated text, short story) where students offer general observations about ideas from the text that resonate with them. Quickwrites can also focus on specific aspects of the text such as text conventions, use of author’s craft, and/or the big idea(s).
Teacher Linda Rief uses quickwrites to have students reflect on short texts such as poetry, quotations, and text excerpts. Quickwrites may be kept in a reader-writer notebook and used to spark a response or become the seed for a written production.
ART WORK
ART WORK
Visual journals allow students to represent their thinking though different media (text, illustrations, collage, painting). Students might create a visual journal entry that focuses on a specific aspect of the text that resonates with them.
Students can also respond to texts through:
Drama, role playing
Music
Photography
Technology e.g., digital storytelling, book trailers, etc.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Robert E. Probst explains reader response theory in the article Transactional Theory in the Reading of Literature.
The University of Alberta offers information on using response journals in Enhancing Engagement in Reading: Response Journals in Secondary English Classrooms.
Jeffrey Wilhelm discusses creative ways to use drama to respond to literature in his article entitled Not for Wimps! Using Drama to Enrich Reading of YA Literature.
Author and teacher Penny Kittle gives examples of alternate ways to respond to literature from her own practice.
Read Write Think offers information on using annotations to make connections during reading.
I’ll Have Mine Annotated Please: Helping Students Make Connections with Texts by Matthew D. Brown offers information on ways to introduce the process to students.
Poetry in Voice offers a searchable database of poems and pedagogical materials.
References
References
Rosenblatt, L. M. (1985). Viewpoints: Transaction versus interaction: A terminological rescue operation. Research in the Teaching of English, 96-107
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