Journal responses

I love this image- found it on google images and it fits the purpose of this post.

The following are some of my tips for doing well on journal assignments. I'm going to break it down into the smallest details, because, well, I can. I'm writing a blog post, after all.

First...read the journal question(s) before reading. You're paying attention to everything, annotating as you go, but you want to keep the questions in mind.

After you fully comprehend what you've read, spent time with it, uninterrupted (I don't recommend texting), go back to the journal question.

Next, I recommend freewriting out your thoughts. Some people like typing, others prefer writing in long hand. Write without worry, let your thinking develop by asking yourself questions: Why? How? What do I mean? Where is this in the story? You may recall some quote or instance. Do so without summarizing, as the journal questions
never ask for summary.

You should know by now that if you give a simple explanation, like for example, "Sonny explained what he went through in being addicted to heroin, and his brother had trouble understanding" that you need to go back to the text. You can do much more explaining and exploring, but the author's words themselves will help you get there.
If you look at the exchange the brothers have specifically, thinking about the meaning of what they say to each other, including certain quotes, and your analysis, then you're on your way to doing good work.

I recommend freewriting these thoughts out, and then organizing them into paragraphs, editing out repetition and adding anything more later. And you must, after all this proofread! MUST proofread!

You know the requirement is 2 typed pages double spaced (no additional spaces) and in 12 font. If you do this process, you won't have a problem "filling up" 2 pages.

I'll see you're thinking, taking it on, showing care, and even if your interpretation is not perfect, you engaged and worked.

Remember: interpreting literature is not a matter of opinion with all opinions being correct. What happens in the case of opinion-making regarding literature is that people can then make up their own stories, often conventional ones. They might then fail to listen to the writer, who is often far quirkier and more challenging to understand.

I would welcome your sending me journals every once in a while for review, before passing them in, if you think my feedback would be helpful.