1. Teaching Students to be Reflective Readers and Writers Kelli Coons

3. In 1985, Louise Rosenblatt argued in The Reader, the Text, and the Poem: The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work that it is important for teacher avoid imposing any “preconceived notions about the proper way to react to any work.” When using the Reader Response Journals the students are given many options on how to respond to a text. The Reader Response Theory states that to understand the meaning of the text, one must look to the processes readers use to create that meaning and experience. Metacognition=thinking about your own thinking

4. Rosenblatt discussed both the “efferent” and “aesthetic” psychological viewpoints that readers assume when reading a text. Efferent- derived from the Latin term “effere” meaning to carry away and explains what happens when you read a text primarily just to extract information. Aesthetic- is concerned with the “lived through” experience of the text, what happens during the actual reading. It is possible that different aesthetic transactions can occur with the same text and different readers.

5. Interactive Discover Meaning Reader Participates Students tend to see multiple perspectives because they can better form and support their own opinions about the reading. Use the journal as a way to track their own processes of meaning making. Meanings grow and are shaped both personally and socially.

6. Students need to learn that not every single one of their responses is equally valid or appropriate (or going to be graded) Meaning of the text is not entirely subjective, responses need to be grounded in the text itself (text evidence) A way to prevent “out there” responses are supported by examples, quotes from the text and background knowledge on the topic.

7. Collection of short stories about an American Platoon in Vietnam.

8. What do you notice? Do you see evidence of the student’s reading process? Is the reader using questions to in their response? Do you see the reader making connections in their reading? Does the student elaborate on their own thinking earlier in the response? Is there text evidence in the response?

10. Read the excerpt from Hatchet by Gary Paulson. Use the pages provided to craft your own response. You may use the prompts from the handout or you can craft it as a letter to the author. After you get an opportunity to respond thoroughly go through the rubric provided and score your own response How do you feel you could use this in your own classroom?