Beginning tomorrow, all seventh graders will begin reading Tuesdays With Morrie by American author Mitch Albom. As we read, you will be expected to prepare and maintain a series of writings in a personal response journal.
Response Journals record student feelings, responses, and reactions to literature. This strategy encourages you to think deeply about the materials you have or will read and to relate this information to your knowledge and experiences. Response Journals allow students to reflect on and raise questions about a text. These journals are especially valuable for promoting opinion making, value judgments, and critical thinking. Hopefully, your journal entries will help you relate Albom's ideas to your own life.
Writing prompts or other specific instructions will be given you at the end of each class. For your convenience, the prompts and instructions will also be posted here on Mrs. Smith’s blog at http://www.esmithims.blogspot.com/.
Sometimes you will be challenged to write prose in your journal; other times you might write poetry. You may be asked to interview an adult and include that information in your journal. You may need to use a computer to research a topic and use the information in your journal. You will be asked to share your writing with a peer or an adult.
Please complete your journaling for homework and bring your entries to class daily. Be prepared to share all or parts of your writing with a peer or the entire class.
Your personal response journal will be assessed based on the following criteria:
- Entries are typed, 12-point font, single spaced and feature a creative title
- Ideas presented in each entry are rich, specific, clear and original.
- Details in each entry are well organized with a beginning, middle and ending
- Entries show excellent attention to word choice, sentence fluency and conventions
