San Diego Jewish Academy
9th and 10th Grade Humanities
Reading Journal Entry - Spring 2002


Site Map | Grade 10 Syllabus | Grade 9 Syllabus | Quotes | WordList | Glossary | Graphic Organizers | Rules of Thumb | On-Line Resources | WriteDesign | Co-Teachers - Doug and Melissa | Gallery

E-Mail Doug at mrdoug@aznet.net or Melissa at mjmckinstry@earthlink.net


Rubrics | Third Quarter Schedule


Dear Student

Your literary journal is a place for you, your classmates, and us to talk this year about books, reading, authors, and writing. At its best, the journal will strengthen your reading comprehension, increase your vocabulary, improve your reading fluency, and provide time and space for critical thinking about the texts you read. Our journals will become a record of the thinking, learning, and reading we did together.

Journal Entry Options:

  • Write and exchange a literary letter with a teacher or friend who you think would be interested in the book you're reading. Use one of the prompts from semester one, or create your own; just avoid plot summary.
  • Prepare and deliver a book talk to share with the entire class. Schedule a date for your book talk with your teachers.
  • Write and design a book review placard to post on our literature wall.
  • Create an illustration and written synthesis in response to your text.
  • Please see the attached rubrics for the essential ingredients of each option.

As a bare minimum you must create an entry in your journal and get feedback from a friend at least once a week, due by Tuesday. The teachers need an entry from you at least once every three weeks. Please see the attached schedule for due dates for this quarter. This is only a minimum requirement. You may create a journal entry as often as you wish. The total entries for a quarter will hold greater weight than a single essay.

When you complete an entry, tape the appropriate rubric next to it and exchange your journal with a friend or teacher for feedback. If that's us, put your journal in the "in box". When a friend gives you his or her journal, you must respond and return it within twenty-four hours.

You may read and respond to your own and your friends' reading both during and outside reading workshop.

Number the pages of your journal, as in a book. Date your entries in the upper right-hand corner. Mention the name of the author of the book you're talking about and its title, and indicate the title by capitalizing and underlining it (e.g., A Tale of Two Cities).

We look forward to the chance to learn from you, learn with you, and help you learn more.

Melissa McKinstry and Doug Kipperman


Rubrics | Top

Your letter

completely, mostly, or somewhat

  • includes formatting requirements: page number, date, letter format, greeting, and closing. (1)
  • mentions author and title (underlined) specifically. (1)
  • shows care and neatness in penmanship, presentation and editing. (2)
  • addresses one of the bulleted prompts below or an analytical topic of your choice; not merely plot summary. (2)
  • provides show-not-tell details, evidence, examples from your reading, life, connections. (4)


Your book talk

completely, mostly, or somewhat

  • includes an interest-grabbing lead. (2)
  • mentions author, title, genre, level of difficulty specifically. (2)
  • provides show-not-tell details, evidence, examples from your reading, life, connections. (4)
  • Meets, but does not exceed, time limit of 3-5 minutes. (2)


Your book review placard

completely, mostly, or somewhat

  • mentions author, title (underlined), genre, and level of difficulty specifically. (2)
  • shows care and neatness in presentation and editing using 8.5" x 11" size paper. (3)
  • includes a picture of the book cover (scanned or copied). (2)
  • provides show-not-tell details, evidence, examples from your reading, life, connections regarding your recommendation. (3)


Your illustration and synthesis

completely, mostly, or somewhat

  • mentions author and title (underlined) specifically. (1)
  • shows care and neatness in presentation and editing. (3)
  • creates illustration showing a scene(s) from the text . (3)
  • provides synthesis statement of the meaning you've drawn from the text and how your illustration represents this. (3)


Third Quarter Schedule | Top

You must write a entry in your log and exchange it on the following Tuesdays:
February 5; February 12; February 19; February 26; March 5; March 12

The schedule below will show you which date you must write to Doug or Melissa:


February 5 and February 26 Entries to Melissa or Doug:

10th

9th

Michael A.

Eve B.

Brianna A.

Jessica C.

Sammy A.

Dovid C.

Paul D.

Aviad G.

Rachel F.

Joshua I.

Brett J.

Hali L.


February 12 and March 5 Entries to Melissa or Doug:

10th

9th

Jake K.

Brett L.

Austin L.

Rachel L.

Tali N.

Micah N.

Josh N.

Ariene N.

Ben R.

Joram N.

Jarrett P.

Shelly P.


February 19 and March 12 Entries to Melissa or Doug:

10th

9th

Joseph S.

Giuliette R.

William S.

Jessica R.

Aaron G.

Miriam S.

David S.

Tyler S.

Megan M.

Camille S.

Paul S.


Tuesday, March 19, Literary Logs to Melissa and Doug for Quarter 3 Check

We will collect everyone's literary log to check for six entries and six rubrics (four with peer responses, two with teacher responses) and an updated reading record with page numbers.


Site Map | Grade 10 Syllabus | Grade 9 Syllabus | Quotes | WordList | Glossary | Graphic Organizers | Rules of Thumb | On-Line Resources | WriteDesign | Co-Teachers - Doug and Melissa | Gallery | Top

E-Mail Doug at mrdoug@aznet.net or Melissa at mjmckinstry@earthlink.net


Melissa and I would like to
thank
znet for
making a commitment to
education and WriteDesign.