Responding Through Writing

Question

Explain how responding is done through writing?

Answer 1

Writing is a response that satisfies children’s natural desire to communicate. Writing should be viewed as a process to encourage students to think reflectively, editing their work as their thinking progresses. This process is unique in that it provides an opportunity for the student to mentally organize his thoughts about the story. Often, such organization provides clarity that is not always realized in more spontaneous forms of response. Because the point of written response is to achieve greater comprehension, it is important to emphasize the content of the writing rather than writing conventions such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

A popular means of written response involves the use of journals. There are several types of journals designed for specific purposes. A double-entry journal, for example, allows the student to record interesting quotes or pieces of dialogue on one side of the page and register his response on the opposite side. Buddy journals can be used to create running dialogues between class members who are reading the same text. Buddy journals pose an interesting chance for mixed-grade interaction when students from various classes are paired as journal “buddies.” Journals can as well be employed with nonfiction literature. Often called learning logs, these journals encourage students to record interesting facts and observations gleaned from factual text.

Written response may be done individually, in pairs, or in small- or large-group collaboration. There are literally hundreds of options for written response.