middle school writing starters for personal responses to literature

1. Blogging Your Journal

5. Focus your response according to the posted question Decide whether you are asked to respond to: the entire story to a character to a particular event or to the author’s style Think about the scene that most impressed you. Did it remind you of your own life? What did it make you think or feel?

6. How familiar is your audience with the story you are discussing? What will they need to know in order to understand your response?

7. As you read, write your personal response in your reading log. State your feelings, thoughts, reactions, and questions about situations, ideas, actions, characters, settings, symbols, plots, themes, and any other elements in the story. You can't be wrong in your responses, so take risks and be honest . Write about what you like and dislike, what seems confusing or unusual to you. Tell what you think something means. Make predictions about what might happen later. Relate your personal experiences which connect with the plot, characters, or setting. Don't just summarize the plot. Let me hear your voice. These starters are simply suggestions for you to use. Remember your response journal is a place to record your reactions and questions, not a place to simply summarize what you've read. Sometimes a summary will be necessary to get your point across. After you read the selection, ask yourself these questions. Decide which would make the best entry from your response journal. You may certainly use other ideas of your own. Just make sure you include more than just a summary of what is happening. Support your summaries with what you are feeling as you read your book. Doing this will help you get the MOST from your book.

12. Tell us the most interesting thing about the book you are currently reading. How/why did you choose it? Make your post at least 3 sentences long. My favorite book is A Child Called it. He went through everything you could think of. If you like true stories, and don’t mind reading something depressing then I request you to read this book.

13. Tell us the most interesting thing about the book you are currently reading. How/why did you choose it? Make your post at least 3 sentences long. The book I am currently reading is the third book, Eclipse, in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. So far it is my favorite book in the series because it has action and romance at the same time without being overly cheesy. It is very interesting because the things that tend to happen are usually the things you wouldn’t expect. I chose to read it because I’ve read the first two books in the Twilight series and really liked them.