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Friday, September 6, 2013

Effective Reading Responses

Moving from avid readers to interpretive readers...

Discussing the naive (naif) narrative in Scout's Honor by Avi

Courage, honor, and boyish camaraderie are interesting themes woven into the coming of age tale, Scout’s Honor by Avi. Set in post World War II America, this heart warming short story chronicles the adventures of a trio of friends who set out from their inner city neighborhood, Brooklyn, on an overnight hike, ‘in the country.’
Avi, the narrator and main character in the story, acts and behaves in a fashion typical of the time period and age range.  Blind faith in one’s own ability and an unwillingness to admit a mistake are common characteristics of most boys,  “the way they agreed (to the trip) made me nervous. Now I really was going to have to be tough” (p.2). To proud to admit his own fears and insecurities, Avi continues on his adventure out of city even though at heart, all he seems to desire is to admit defeat and head home.  With a probable stock of role models such as comic book heroes, western cowboys, and returning soldiers, it is easy to appreciate why Avi feels that the only way to show true bravery is to keep going.
Clearly, Avi showed  his age and immaturity by failing to plan the trip in a little more  details before setting out. By anticipating the expected travel time, Avi could have at least calculated that his group might arrive at their destination while it was still daylight. However, all of this behavior is understandable knowing that at the time Avi was only nine years old.
Both a flaw and strength is the narrator’s misinterpretation of what it means to be tough. Keeping face in front of one’s peers must have certainly been a neighborhood ritual in his world full of “slate payments, streets of asphalts, and skies full of tall building” (p.1). Living in such a densely populated community probably meant that reputation was everything.  Backing down at any point probably had much deeper and longer lasting repercussions in the streets where the boys lived.
Boyish wisdom is an admirable characteristic that Avi demonstrates throughout the story. Instantly, he devises a plan to meet back up with Horse when he gets stuck on the subway train (p.4). A pile of spent matches are what he creatively chooses to use to build a fire when all the other kindling is wet from the rain.
Avi and his childhood comrades constantly felt the need to prove their toughness to themselves and to each other. Their adventures in Scout’s Honor if anything, certainly proved one thing very clearly, their beautiful friendship.

H/W
1) Reading Ladders: Personal Reflection - PRINTED COPY Due next Tuesday. Don't just get a parent's signature, discuss your reading habits so far with them and tell then your next steps to moving 'up your ladder' Suggest that you begin to read the same book and then book talk it once or twice weekly.

More sophisticated readers select books:

  • across genres
  • across time periods
  • that contain multiple plot lines
  • that contain multiple perspectives
  • from a variety of authors
  • contains less dialogue and more description or narrative
  • that takes the reader out of their background knowledge/interests/age bracket comfort zone (when appropriate)
  • follow parents/Goodreads/Amazon/teacher's/friends recommendations
  • seek out award winning books
  • seek out books with more complex plot structures, themes, vocabulary
Showing sophisticated reading habits is ASSESSED. How will you proof that you are moving up your ladder?


2) Read all the comments on this post about the Reading Response.  Type in which  student(s) gave the best comment

Which student gave the most thoughtful comment?... at AnswerGarden.ch.



Friday Message - Worth Watching - Notice her age!

55 comments:

  1. One thing that is great about this response is that you have a quote and you explain it in further detail.

    Sam B.
    Block C/D

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  2. This reading response has quoting, page numbers and references to the book. My reading response does not have any quotes.
    - Devon

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  3. This Readers Response has a level of sophistication that mine does not have. His Readers Response also has more then two red flag moments. All of his red flag moments fit together.

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  4. Beginnings- this response does it so well, and I'm terrible at it. Perhaps a mini-lesson on beginnings in the near future?

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  5. Something this piece had which mine didn't have was my piece didn't judge the character. I just stated a claim and supported evidence from the book even though this piece also did that they added extra by judging the characters actions and emotions.

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  6. In this reading response there was good vocabulary used to enhance the meaning. Another good aspect was using multiple quotes to explain your reasoning and not just one. I also really like how you stated that the characters misinterpretation was both a flaw and a strength.
    As a whole reading response I found this really good and well written!
    Good Job!

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  7. In this reading response, it also talks about the character's flaws.In my response I didn't talk about this, only the characters traits.

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  8. You put evidence In to why you thought he was.........

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. I noticed that something that this reading response had was the time period in which the story takes place. I did not have that in my reading response, so I will try to put that in my next one. Good job Mr. Buxton!

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  11. Instead of starting with, "I have just finished reading..." This reading response hooked the reader in by using themes of the story and saying, "Courage, Honor and boyish camaraderie..."

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  12. The response has talked about the characters flaws, which I didn't in my response.

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  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  14. I didn't really show how my character had a partial understanding of something. I realize that that could have been useful in my reading response. If I had explained my characters partial understanding of the laws and rules that relate to endangered animals. If he could have been better at this it would have helped him in the long run.

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  15. Overall, I like how your reading response had a lot of detail and was describing the main character, Avi, in a sophisticated way. One thing that was on your reading response that wasn't on mine was that it had a short but succinct summary in the beginning, whereas mine was spread out all over the piece.

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  16. This Readers Response has a level of sophistication that mine does not have. His Readers Response also has more then two red flag moments. All of his red flag moments fit together.

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  17. In this reading response it has three items that my reading response doesnt have. The first thing is it has an interesting introduction that gives a little bit of the story in it. The second item is that it has interesting vocabulary that catches the readers attention. Finally the last item is that it tries to avoid using pronouns in the beginning of the sentences.

    - Isabella

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  18. In this reading response, it also talks about the character's flaws.In my response I didn't talk about this, only the characters traits.

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  19. This response has very detailed parts in the book, and brings in a good quoted piece.

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  20. I did not describe my character as much as you did. I only said his traits. I also didn't talk about the perspective or narrator. My reading response doesn't have quotes either.

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  21. This reading Response has lots of quotes and has a strong ending mine has little quotes and a weak ending.

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  22. Something that your reading response had that I didn't was a comparison to other people. In the second paragraph you compared Avi to "most boys" and that's something I should definitely try in my reading responses.

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  23. In your reading response towards the end you state the strengths and weaknesses to help prove your point and for us to learn more about the character.

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  24. This reading response contains more critique than I do. This response hardly any explained the summary. The response had a strong voice, explains the feelings of a reader.

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  25. This response shows that Avi did not exactly know what he was doing. Something that this blog had that I did not was pages of where the Quotes came from. As well the vocabulary compare to mine is a lot better. The response quotes go into a lot more detail then say yeah here is a quote.
    -Jessica

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  26. This response shows that Avi did not exactly know what he was doing. Something that this blog had that I did not was pages of where the Quotes came from. As well the vocabulary compare to mine is a lot better. The response quotes go into a lot more detail then say yeah here is a quote.
    -Jessica

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  27. In this reading response you wrote a brief summary of the story but also didn't give much away, which makes the reader seem advent to read it. I like how you did a couple of quotes in it with the page number. I think that this would be an A post.

    ~Nathan

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  28. this has a strong ending and good quotes mine does not

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  29. This reading response has a high level of sophistication. The way the sentences flow, and the craft of the piece shows that. I have to improve on those things.

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  30. One thing that I noticed about this reading response was that the Author uses complex sentences with stong subjects and predicates, which I didnt do much of in my reading response.

    - Sabrina

    Block E/F

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  31. There were two things I saw in the response that I didn't have in my own Scout's Honor one.
    It mentioned the theme.
    At the beginning of paragraphs, it stated the topic.

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  32. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  33. I think that the way that you included a picure to show of the war was effective and it made it so that I could get a better feel of the response

    Kai Olafson
    E/F

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  34. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  35. One great thing that i didn't add into my reading response with was that i didn't was that i didn't critque as many red flag moments as he did

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  36. My reading response did not have as much sophisticated vocabulary as this reading response. I also did not include any direct quotes from the story.

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  37. This reading response contains 3 things which it seems I don't use in an effective way. I think I need to use better vocabulary. Use words that will enhance the response. I think I also need to use more than 2 quotes. The last thing I think I need to improve on is my structure. I tend not to think about structure a lot, but is something that I need to address in my next reading response.

    - Marium Ahmed
    - Block E F
    - September 6th , 2013

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  38. It also used more book quotes than mine to help with the evidence.

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  39. In this reading response there was harder vocabulary that made the piece more interesting. Also they sophistication of this reading response was very different than mine.
    -Asia E/F

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  40. One great thing that i didn't add into my reading response with was that i didn't was that i didn't critque as many red flag moments as he did

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  41. Something that this writer did that I didn't was to find a bigger meaning of the trip, and showed what the character really got out of it was a better friendship, not just being tough by turning back.

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  42. I think that yours sounded way more thought out than mine. I also think that you added support from the text and the page numbers and I didn't, so I think that it made yours sound very sophisticated and thought out.

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  43. This reading response is very sophisticated. The author explains both his quotes with a lot of details. My response doesn't have two red flag moments, I mostly just talk about one idea.

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  44. This reading response tells the setting of the plot, and a description about the character. My reading response does not have a description about the characters.

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  45. I didn't put a lot of quotes in, and it made the writing
    easier to relate to. Additionally, your sentence structure flowed very nicely, I wish I did that better

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  46. The writer looks at the narrator's thoughts and judges them to be a flaw. S/he gives clear examples to prove his/her theory by using short quotes from the book. The writer also uses well-constructed sentences to state his/her claim more clearly: 'Both a flaw and strength is the narrator’s misinterpretation of what it means to be tough.'

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  47. I think that yours sounded much more thought through than mine. I also think that since you added supportive evidence from the text it made it seem more sophisticated and thought out.

    Alexa
    Block E/F

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  48. This response demonstrated a clear statement, along with helpful evidence to help make the response very clear. All of the ideas in the response added to the point of the response. The response really made me think, and showed unique ideas, and evidence.

    -Nicole Block E/F

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  49. This had a level of critical thinking a and using some very good choice of words. This person also used to was multiple quotes. I really liked how he used sophistication reasoning and he understands and this shows me that this person had a very high level in reading and writing.

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  50. One thing that you did that I didn't was to have a good introduction that really grabs the reader into the story!

    Jackson Reeves
    Block E/F

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  51. Your reading response has page numbers and quotes from the book. My reading response doesn't have page numbers or quotes.

    Sonia
    Block E/F

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  52. You all seemed to show sophisticated thinking here. Impressive opinions. It you practice what you preach, you will only improve!

    Have a nice weekend!

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  53. One thing it had that mine didn't was the feelings about the character's characteristics.

    ^
    Block E

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Please use this blog to comment on ONLY 'academic' matters or to answer a classmate's academic questions. You must leave your name if you comment. NO SOCIAL NETWORKING ALLOWED on this blog. Thank you. Mr. Buxton.