DIALOGUE JOURNAL HANDOUT

30/31 August 2007

Dear Readers,

Your dialogue journal is a place for you and me to talk this year about books, reading, authors, and writing. You’ll be chatting about literature in letters to me; I’ll write letters back to you. All our letters will stay in your journal, arranged chronologically, as a record of the thinking, learning, and reading we did together.

In your letters talk about what you’ve read. Tell what you noticed. Tell what you thought and felt and why. Tell what you liked and didn’t and why. Tell how you read and why. Tell what these books said and meant to you. Ask questions or for help. And write back about our ideas, feelings, experiences, and questions.

As a bare minimum for passing this course, you must write at least one letter to me each week in your dialogue journal. The letter should be at least one solid 81/2 by 11 page - no skipping lines! (Well, skip lines if you want, but then you need TWO solid pages. These are only minimum requirements; you may pass in a literary letter as often as you wish, and feel free to go on and on and on. You may write letters and respond to letters both during and outside your independent reading time.

Please date your letters in the upper right-hand corner. Please mention the author and title of the book you’re talking about and capitalize and underline the titles of books to which you make reference. For stories or poems, capitalize and put the title in quotes.

I will collect dialogue journals every two weeks on Thursday or Friday. There will be a designated spot where you will put your journal. If you prefer, you can give me your journal whenever you finish an entry. Just put it on my desk and let me know it’s there.

To keep a running record of your reading, please enter the title and author of each book you finish this year on the last page of your journal notebook. This record will serve as a quick reference.

Your collection of letters will provide part of your reading/writing grade. Follow the procedures outlined above, write often and a lot, and correspond about your thoughts on literature in an engaged and involved way, and you will be successful.

I am hoping that this year will provide you with the opportunity to read a variety of books and to connect your reading to your life, your writing, and your education. Our letters will help you make meaning from what you read.

Sincerely,



Miss Simison




Some dialogue journal starters (just in case you get stuck!)
Make sure to always elaborate on your ideas; explain them to me!

One of the reasons I’m really enjoying this book is……….
One thing I agree/disagree with is………..
This book reminds me of…………
I can/cannot relate to a character in this book because…………
One of the reasons I dislike this book is………..
I wish this book………
The plot of this book…………….
One thing that surprised me about this book is………
If I could change one thing about this book it would be……….
I would/would not be friends with the characters in this book because……..
This book is bothering me because……..
This book reminds me of a current event………
Reading this book makes me think about………..
This book reminds me of the song……….
The setting of this book is interesting because………..
A connection I can make between this book and English class is………
I saw a vocabulary word in my book! It was…………..
Something I don’t understand about my book is………..
I would/would not recommend this book to other students because………..
The author of this book likes to……….
One thing I’ve learned from this book is………
Hey Miss S! Can you believe that…………
This book makes me think of the movie…………..
This book is exactly like my life because………..
I’m not sure why the author…………..