Writing a Response
The one certainty in our lives as ELA students is that there WILL be something to respond to on our final exams during each year of high school. Getting a handle on how to do this is important.
In your response duotang you have a document called, "Recipe to Write a Response". In case you forget that document home, I am putting that document here. This will allow you to complete your Response homework on time.
Recipe for Writing a Response
To write a solid response, you should complete the following in Paragraphs! No subtitles please! Remember that a solid topic sentence will tell me what you are writing about in each paragraph.
STEP 1: Give a very short summary of what you have read. This should be no longer than 1 short paragraph. (This is a story about….)
STEP 2: Discuss the author’s message, or the meaning behind the story. What was the author's purpose in writing this piece? Is there a lesson you can learn from it?
STEP 3: Connect ideas
This can be:
a. connecting the text to you and your experiences
What does this remind me of in my life? What is this similar to in my life? Has something like this ever happened to me? What were my feelings when I read this?
b. connecting the text to the world
What does this remind me of in the real world? How is this text similar to things that happen in the real world?
c. connecting the text to another text
What does this remind me of in another book I’ve read? How is this text similar to other things I’ve read?
YOU HAVE BEEN ASKED TO INCLUDE ANY 2 CONNECTIONS!
***always remember to put specific examples from the text to prove your point.
STEP 4: Discuss the structures and features of the text. Here you talk about the tools the author used to help the reader understand and get the message. Any choices the author made when creating his/her text are considered to be structures and features.
Examples of structures and features….foreshadowing, flashback, genre, the way the author builds character, the way the author builds setting, use/choice of pictures, placement of pictures, choice of font size, voice, point of view, use of humour, dialogue, etc! If you are responding to a picture discuss the use of colour, the placement of words on a page or the font used. If responding to a movie or video consider taking about the use of music, the use of camera angles or even the lighting in a scene.
STEP 5: Give a clear opinion about not only the text, but about the structures and features used by the author and about the message/moral you found in the story. Really think about the text as a whole and give an opinion not only on whether you liked it or not, but give your opinion about how and why it may have been created.
****Be sure to use examples throughout your response!!!!! Always make a link between the 'text' and your experiences/opinion/thoughts.
In your response duotang you have a document called, "Recipe to Write a Response". In case you forget that document home, I am putting that document here. This will allow you to complete your Response homework on time.
Recipe for Writing a Response
To write a solid response, you should complete the following in Paragraphs! No subtitles please! Remember that a solid topic sentence will tell me what you are writing about in each paragraph.
STEP 1: Give a very short summary of what you have read. This should be no longer than 1 short paragraph. (This is a story about….)
STEP 2: Discuss the author’s message, or the meaning behind the story. What was the author's purpose in writing this piece? Is there a lesson you can learn from it?
STEP 3: Connect ideas
This can be:
a. connecting the text to you and your experiences
What does this remind me of in my life? What is this similar to in my life? Has something like this ever happened to me? What were my feelings when I read this?
b. connecting the text to the world
What does this remind me of in the real world? How is this text similar to things that happen in the real world?
c. connecting the text to another text
What does this remind me of in another book I’ve read? How is this text similar to other things I’ve read?
YOU HAVE BEEN ASKED TO INCLUDE ANY 2 CONNECTIONS!
***always remember to put specific examples from the text to prove your point.
STEP 4: Discuss the structures and features of the text. Here you talk about the tools the author used to help the reader understand and get the message. Any choices the author made when creating his/her text are considered to be structures and features.
Examples of structures and features….foreshadowing, flashback, genre, the way the author builds character, the way the author builds setting, use/choice of pictures, placement of pictures, choice of font size, voice, point of view, use of humour, dialogue, etc! If you are responding to a picture discuss the use of colour, the placement of words on a page or the font used. If responding to a movie or video consider taking about the use of music, the use of camera angles or even the lighting in a scene.
STEP 5: Give a clear opinion about not only the text, but about the structures and features used by the author and about the message/moral you found in the story. Really think about the text as a whole and give an opinion not only on whether you liked it or not, but give your opinion about how and why it may have been created.
****Be sure to use examples throughout your response!!!!! Always make a link between the 'text' and your experiences/opinion/thoughts.