At the start of September I was faced with another semester of teaching a graded reader with my grade 9 class. It was going to be the same old process of highlighting vocabulary, discussing themes, and answering comprehension questions. The students traditionally had exam questions that focused on exploring the themes of the text.
However, I had become frustrated with the lack of thought put into these explorations on the part of the students. In addition, the students were relying on me to tell them what I wanted to write (a situation which I probably promoted). The students also felt the text examination process was a little bit boring.
What I really wanted was to take a somewhat boring activity (novel study) and turn it into a thought-provoking discussion of the text.
Of course, English learners would require more time to formulate their ideas and responses to the text.
At this point I cam across a very interesting article:
Effects of Guided Journal Writing on Students’ Story Understanding. Wong et al 2002. The Journal of Educational Research.
(A big thank you to John Macalister, Victoria University, New Zealand, for making this assigned reading in my MA program).
Instead of the traditional study method, students were provided with a reading journal. In the front of this reading journal we posted a set of guided response questions:
1. How do you feel?
2. What do you notice?
3. What do you question?
4. How do you relate to the story?
After reading each short story/chapter, students were asked to complete their journal by answering these questions along with any other observations or comments. To assist the students (as well as to promote buy-in to the task) I also kept my own journal which was available to the students.
Here is an example of a student’s response:
All in all, I have found the use of guided journals to be both a rewarding and educational experience for my students. If anyone would like further information on this or the paper, please contact me.
