Reading Response Suggestions

  1. Create mobile illustrating themes or main ideas
  2. Design a book jacket
  3. Create a diorama depicting an idea, a chapter, orbook.
  4. Develop an ad to sell the book
  5. Compare yourself to the author or figures mention in the book
  6. Be a critic and review the book for a newspaper, journal, or TV show
  7. Rewrite the conclusion
  8. Write a diary entry for the author or person who is mentioned in the text
  9. Add another figure to the book. Show how s/he would react/interact
  10. Research the setting describe additional details
  11. Using only color and shapes, try to capture the mood of the particular piece
  12. Research the author and present this information to the class
  13. Try to draw parallels between the author’s life and events/ideas in the article/book
  14. Write poetry expressing the ideas in the text or your response to them
  15. Create a found poem
  16. Create a collage depicting ideas or issues explored in the text
  17. Draw cartoons depicting significant ideas/issues in the text
  18. Write a letter recommending the text to a librarian or a friend
  19. Write a new experience, narrative, example, etc. that could be added to the book
  20. Write a “What if…?” addition to the text. For example, what if Harry Potter met Oprah?
  21. State your reasons for liking/disliking the text
  22. Try top ten list: “Top 10 reasons why I would invite Joey Pigza to my slumber party.”
  23. Write a letter to the author
  24. Try to think about the text as a body. What are the hands? The heart? The head of the text? Try a pictorial representation.
  25. Imagine the writing as a lump of clay. Detail what you would do with the clay.
  26. Describe the book of color. Which parts are red? Cobalt blue? Why?
  27. Build something (with pipe cleaners, lint, scraps, wire, etc.) that represents a part of the text or your reaction to it. Explain your object’s relation to the book in 3 paragraphs.
  28. Record quotes/images/passages you find important. Explain why.
  29. Web important issues/themes/ideas that arose
  30. Record all your questions—what you don’t understand, wonder about, ponder, etc.
  31. Stop periodically and write a paragraph or so about what you are thinking in response to the text
  32. Jot down stories or experiences you’ve had that passages in the text remind you of
  33. Have a “silent” conversation with Mrs. Odum about your books
  34. Graffiti a large piece of paper
  35. Create a visual map that tells the “story” of the text
  36. Create a timeline to organize major ideas or to connect the text with other texts
  37. Do a looped, focused, or invisible freewrite in response to the text
  38. Complete a “before, during, and after” response to the text in which you writ a paragraph predicting what you think the author will say, stop midway through and respond to what has been said so far, and write again after completing the reading to sum up your thoughts.
  39. Using the alphabet, create a sentence(s) for each letter of the alphabet that would apply to your text.
  40. Reflect on the reading using a double entry journal.
  41. Create a brochure of your text.
  42. Create a PowerPoint that highlights the big ideas within your text.
  43. Create a recipe.
  44. Write a song.