Interactive Readers Notebook Guidelines

1. This notebook will be checked and graded every few weeks on Fridays. It is important to stay up-to-date with work. Each entry is set up the same way a notebook entry is. A sample label follows: Entry Set-Up: Book title and author Prompt number and title of assignment Sample: The Giver, Lois Lowry 1 - Exposition Skip one line between each entry. You will have a required number of entries for each marking period. Entries will be graded on meeting the required number, length, and content. These entries will be used during our reading conferences to help us discuss your reading. Readers Notebook

2. 1- Exposition What have you learned about characters and their background? What about setting? Readers Notebook

3. 2- Sympathetic Explain how the protagonist in your narrative is sympathetic? If he or she is not, explain why. (7-10 lines) Readers Notebook

4. 3- Conflict Identify the main conflict in the narrative. Are there both external and internal conflicts? Describe them (7-10 lines). Readers Notebook

5. Lit Circle Select a moderator: ask questions and keep everyone listening to the speaker. • What is the setting? • What can you say about main character? Background? Is sympathetic? • What is the main conflict? Is there an internal and external conflict? Lit Circle

6. 4 – Point of View Remember, the point of view controls what information the reader gets. In “The Elevator,” third person limited keeps important info from the reader. First person allows us to become very intimate with one character. What is the point of view in your story? Why did the author select this POV? What info do you get or not get because of it? Readers Notebook

7. 5 – Text to Text Connection Make a connection between your book and another you have read. You can focus on character, setting, plot, point of view, and conflict. Choose one or all of these narrative elements to discuss (10 lines). Readers Notebook

8. 6 – Summary List key events that have occurred to far in your reading. Make a prediction about what will occur (10 lines) Readers Notebook

9. 7 – Summary List key events that have occurred so far in your reading. (5-7 lines) Readers Notebook

10. 8 – Summary List key events that have occurred so far in your reading. (5-7 lines) Readers Notebook

11. 9 – Plot Devices What plot devices are used to keep you interested? Foreshadowing? Cliffhanger? Any suspense devices that are on our board? Write 7-10 lines. Readers Notebook

12. 10 – Problem-Solving How is your character handling the conflict in the narrative? Is he or she running away or ignoring it? Ask for help? Facing problems head on? How would you handle the situation if you were the character? Write 7-10 lines. Readers Notebook

13. 11 – Fatal Flaw Mr. White has the fatal flaw of recklessness. He uses the monkey’s paw despite all warnings. Most characters have some sort of character flaw. What flaw does your character have? Write 7-10 lines. Readers Notebook

14. 12 – Summary List key events that have occurred so far in your reading. (5-7 lines) Readers Notebook

15. 13 – Summary List key events that have occurred so far in your reading. (5-7 lines) Readers Notebook

16. 14 – Summary List key events that have occurred so far in your reading. (5-7 lines) Readers Notebook

17. 15 – Choice Choose from the list of prompts stapled into your notebook (7-10 lines) Readers Notebook

18. 16 – Choice Choose from the list of prompts stapled into your notebook (7-10 lines) Readers Notebook

19. 17 – Choice Choose from the list of prompts stapled into your notebook (7-10 lines) Readers Notebook

20. Lit Circle • Organize by genre: thriller, fantasy, realistic fiction, sports fiction • Select a moderator: ask questions and keep everyone listening to the speaker. • What is going on in the story? • What prediction can you make about coming events in the story? • What other text or film or television show does this book remind you of? Describe how. Lit Circle