Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Reading Diary for Week 8: Diary Review

After going back over the instructions, there are some things that I skipped over and also found interesting. The first think I noticed with the “Option B” part of the diary. I think that is a good alternative just incase someone might forget or not have time to do the whole reading. I try to do the whole reading every week, so I will not have to just do half. I also noticed that my strategies for taking notes varied for time to time.
During the first two weeks I noticed that I put more emphasis into my thoughts and reactions other than just summarizing. I used the plots of the story to explain my feelings and position. As the weeks went by I realized that I started to summarize the stories. I must say, it is hard to not summarize because you feel that everything is important in the story and you want to make sure to mention it in your storytelling post to try and better the quality of my notes. I am going to focus back on my reactions, feelings, and interpretations. Also focusing my thoughts of the story, plot, and main characters. I did try to use the same strategy for my reading diaries, however I am not sure if it was correct thing to do. I tried to pick out three or four mini stories, depending on the unit, and write about the plot for them. Also, along the way I would summarize the general plot of the story. This would help me when it came down to the storytelling post. I went back to my notes, looked at the main focus points, and recreated a story based off of my notes. I did not even have to go back and read the story. That is my favorite part about the Reading Diary assignment. It isn’t just busy work; it actually helps you with the story telling aspect.


I think that the no length requirement is perfect if you’re, obviously, not taking advantage of it and only writing a few words. For some of the stories I found myself to have a lot of notes to take, but for others it just felt like the story was dragging forever, and I could not find any good notes. I typically write about 400- 600 words for my whole reading diary. I find it easier to take notes during the reading, maybe every few pages. It helps keep me on my train of thought when I need to write something. I have tried waiting until after the reading, but it is way more difficult for me to do.

Half Way Done! By: Jerry Connors

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