Name:______Date:______
To Kill a Mockingbird Reading Sheet Chapters 4-8
While you read TKAM, you will be trying out different reading strategies. A reading strategy is a "trick" you can use to keep your mind focused on the book, and to help make sense of what you're reading. For the first half of the book, you will try out many different reading strategies and assess how well they work for you. In the later half of the book, you will be able to choose the strategy that works best for you.
Why you're doing it: Keeping a dialogue journal is a way of staying focused on and making sense of what you're reading. When keeping a dialogue journal, it's like having a conversation with the book. And when you finish reading, you'll remember what you read!
How to do it: A) Draw a line down the center of the sheet. As you read each chapter, record five quotes on the left side of the sheet. A "quote" is anything written in the book. When you record the quote, be sure to put quotation marks around it, and give its page number (see example). Choose quotes that:
• Confuse you
• Show interesting & unique writing
• Seem important to what's going on in the chapter
• Seem to foreshadow what will happen later
• Remind you of something in your life (an experience, another book, a movie, etc.)
• Make you have a strong emotion when you read them
You should record the quotes AS you read, not after.
B) Next, record your questions & thoughts about the quote on the "talk back" side of the sheet. This is your chance to talk about why the quote confused you, why you liked it, what it reminds you of, how it makes you feel, etc. If you're stuck, try starting your "talk back" with the following words:
• "I picked this because..."
• "This quote makes me wonder about..."
• This quote makes me feel like..."
• "When I read this quote, I remember..."
• "The quote is really confusing because..."
• "I think this quote foreshadows that..."
Note: The "juicier" the quote, the easier it will be to "talk back" to it. Choosing quotes just because they're short will make talking back VERY difficult, and won't help you remember what you read.