Using Reading Response Blogs Journals in Your Language Arts Classroom
There are a variety of journals that students may keep in the reading/language arts classroom. Dialogue and Response Journals are two recommendations made throughout the curriculum. There is a difference between the two types of journals and benefits to each kind.
Response Journals/Blogs are kept by students and used in a variety of ways. Response Journals offer students a chance to respond to reading using a text-dependent question. These responses may be used for grading purposes and are a good opportunity to provide meaningful feedback. Students may also respond in the form of a blog. Note: If your students do not have regular computer access to post blogs online, consider maintaining a bulletin board or wall where students may “post” their blogs and use sticky notes to comment on each other’s blog posts.
Dialogue Journals are similar to Response Journals in that the students are responding and reflecting on what they have read. However, Dialogue Journals are much different in that they set up a communication between student and teacher through letter writing. Students will write a letter to the teacher about their current reading. They choose the topic of the letter; it is not an assigned response or question from the teacher. The teacher, in turn, responds to the letter and may use the opportunity to individualize instruction by asking questions or making connections with the reader and text. Dialogue Journals may also be kept online in addition to notebooks. This could be done using Edmodo, Kidblog, etc.
It is recommended that Dialogue Journals are used with a common text, for example text from the shared learning or text used in small group. It is most beneficial to be familiar with the text in order to respond to student’s letters using your knowledge of the selection. Dialogue Journals are not “graded”. Rather, they serve as an instructional opportunity to model good writing and reading habits and provide valuable information about the student’s thinking and interaction with a text. The following page may be used with students to begin the letter writing process and to give students a list of possible topics to discuss in their letters.
Office of English Language Arts, Pre K – 12 July, 2014