Responding to Text
Responding to the text is more than just talking about what has been read. It is an activity that encourages students to express how the text made them feel when they read it. They may even have done something in response to what they read, i.e., created a write-in campaign, planted a garden, wrote a short story.
A response to the text can take many forms:
- journaling
- debating
- creating a visual, musical or dramatic product
- writing a story or essay
Other more elaborate examples of responding to the text are:
- films about what happened after the end of a specific text
- a poem that conveys how it made the student feel
- collage that represents the timeline of events in the text
- movie poster that concisely displays the major information from the text
If you feel uncomfortable about venturing into an area you may consider a weakness - like music, visual arts, drama, or creative writing - you are not alone. Taking risks, and allowing students to see that you take risks, creates a class climate in which students are comfortable in stretching beyond their comfort zones.
After you model a non-traditional approach to text (like music or drama), try offering your students open-ended response assignments in which they choose the format with which they feel that they can complete while stretching those risk taking muscles. Remember, responses can be completed by the whole class, small groups or individuals.