Reading Logs: Learning How to Respond to Reading

To use English to achieve academically in all content areas: Students will use English to obtain, process, construct, and provide subject matter information in spoken and written form.

PA English Proficiency Standard:

English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Language Arts.

Purpose: The strategies and activities in this lesson are designed to meet the needs of English Language Learners by providing research-based instructional techniques that give all students opportunities to understand their learning and show what they know. Reading and writing instruction will be embedded with reading and discussing an award-winning novel that captures students' interest and provides a springboard for lively discussion in literature circles.
Objective:

The reading log strategy is a technique used to teach children how to respond in various written forms during and after reading. It gives students the opportunity to record their thoughts, feelings, reactions, questions, predictions, connections, and much more. It also provides a springboard for discussion.

Materials:
Esperanza Rising by Munoz Ryan, reading logs, dictionary, character map

Supports for English Language Learners:

Students will view concrete examples of completed reading logs to use as a reference. Pictures and icons will be used to illustrate or remind students of the meaning. Students can work collaboratively in pairs or small groups to read and develop peer responses. The teacher can model all types of responses.

Procedures:

Day 1:

Introduce and model how to create a "character map" to the class.

Explain how you organized the character map and why it is important.

Have ELLs practice creating a character map of Esperanza with a native English-speaking peer.

Day 2:

Introduce the strategy of predicting what will happen next in a story.

Read a small section from Esperanza Rising and model aloud how you would think about what has happened in the story so far and predict what will happen next.Day 3:

Demonstrate to students that while reading, if they come across an interesting word or an unknown word, they can write it down and figure out it's meaning through the context of the story or by looking it up in a dictionary.

Share with students some of the interesting words that you came across while reading.Day 4:

Enable students to feel what it would be like if they were a character in the story.

Tell students what you would do and how you would act if you were Esperanza.

Ask one or two students what they would do if they were Esperanza. Write some of their responses on the board as a model.

Have students respond in their reading logs individually.