Double Entry Journals
When you read literature on your own to share with a group or the whole class, you will often be asked to complete a double entry journal. This is a piece of paper folded in half lengthwise (hot dog style) so that there are two columns. One column is labeled “Quotes” and the other “Responses.” You should fill out the double entry journal while you are reading, not afterwards. Each journal entry should have quotes from across the entire reading – some from the beginning of where you were to start reading, some from different parts in the middle, and some towards the end of the assigned reading.
The good news is there will be no quizzes or tests to check whether you read or not. So you don't have to stress out about those. But I will be grading you on your reading by looking at two things: your double entry journals, and your participation in small group and whole class discussions. If you don't do the double entry journal, you will most likely not pass the class. But there are no right or wrong ways to do it. All you have to do is show me that you're thinking while your reading and then share your thoughts in groups.
So what kind of quotes should you put in the quotes column? And how should you respond? Here are the different ways I'd like you to respond to literature:
· Ask a question when your confused or unsure
· Clarify something you were confused about or answer a question you asked
· Make a connection with your own life
· Predict what will happen later in the story or book
· Agree or disagree with a character's actions or ideas
· Visualizing the scene or setting or what's happening
Read the following story, then look at the quotes and responses I chose to get an idea of how to do this.
Eclipsed
by Robert Schuster
Anxious not to miss the coming darkness, Gavin woke early and watched Dad construct the viewers from boxes. Behind his pile of aluminum foil, cardboard, and glue, Dad said: “You see, when the moon passes in front of the sun, like this” – he held up his hairy fists before his eyes – “my head, the earth, gets dark.”
The hour approached. Standing expectantly on the front lawn, their backs to the sun, they donned their viewers. Muffled by cardboard, Dad's voice sounded distant: “See the black dot? That's the moon.”
Gavin watched the white and black dot converge, his moist fingers pressed against the box. Twice he glanced through the neck hole to see if his body was wilting or his feet sinking. He imagined the darkness – moon darkness – coating his hands.
“There,” came the distant voice. “Completely covered. Hell, the next time this happens, I'll be dead.”
Gavin shook off the viewer. The summer grass was brown, the sky purple. He looked at the forbidden sight – the covered sun, the parched yellow eye – and tried, quickly, to imagine his father dead and himself a man, to imagine years passing as the earth spun a thousand times. Dad, darkened, stood still, his square cardboard head bent to the ground, a space creature. Gavin jammed the box on his head. He wanted the sun.
Stern, Jerome ed. Micro Fiction. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1996.
Quotes
1. “Anxious not to miss the coming darkness, Gavin woke early and watched Dad construct the viewers from boxes” (1).
Responses
1. I think this story will be about an eclipse, because the title is “Eclipsed,” and Gavin is “anxious not to miss the coming darkness. (Predicting) What viewers is Gavin's dad constructing? (Questioning)
2. “Behind his pile of aluminum foil, Dad said: 'You see, when the moon passes in from of the sun, like this' – he help up his hairy fists before his eyes – 'my head, the earth, gets dark'” (1).
2. I remember when I was about six my mom took my brother and I to the natural history museum to watch the eclipse and they gave us special shields to hold in front of our eyes to watch it. I think it was only a partial eclipse, but I don't remember for sure. But I saw it with my mom, just like Gavin is seeing it with his dad. (Connecting)
3. The viewers must be to look at the sun. (Clarifying) Those don't sound like the same kind of viewers I used as a kid. (Connecting) I wonder what they look like, and if that's important to the story at all. (Questioning)
3. “Standing expectantly on the back lawn, their backs to the sun, they donned their viewers” (2).
4. Gavin seems to be kind of freaking out. Eclipses aren't that frequent, so maybe this is his first one. Still, I don't know if it's really necessary. It's just an eclipse – sure it's a little weird, but his dad explained it to him. (Disagreeing with a character's actions)
6. “Dad, darkened, stood still, his square cardboard head bent to the ground, a space creature. Gavin jammed the box on his head. He wanted the sun” (5).
5. “'There,' came the distant voice. 'Completely covered. Hell, the next time this happens, I'll be dead.'
Gavin shook off the viewer. The summer grass was brown, the sky purple. He looked at the forbidden sight – the covered sun, the parched yellow eye – and tried, quickly, to imagine his father dead and himself a man, to imagine years passing as the earth spun a thousand times” (4-5).
4. “Gavin watched the white and black dot converge, his moist fingers pressed against the box. Twice he glanced through the neck hole to see if his body was wilting or his feet sinking. He imagined the darkness – moon darkness – coating his hands” (3).
6. Gavin is still freaking out, but I think I understand why. His dad is talking about how he'll be dead and I don't think Gavin likes hearing that, along with how strange everything looks. (Clarifying) I understand a little bit more what the viewers look like. I can see a tall figure of Gavin's dad standing in an eerie dark landscape with a square cardboard head. He looks kind of like a sun worshiper or something, because he's facing the sun and standing still with his head bent. (Visualizing)
5. I wonder how that makes Gavin feel when his dad says he'll be dead the next time it happens. (Questioning) I remember the first time my dad mentioned he'd die someday, it really bothered me and I said, “Dad, don't say that,” but he said, “it's going to happen someday, you might as well get used to it.” It was a little harsh and kind of hurt my feelings. (Connecting) I can see why Gavin might be a little freaked out by everything. (Agreeing with a character's actions)