Transactional Reading Journal Strategy




Search the

ELA Web Pages:

Use this Strategy:

Before Reading

During Reading

After Reading

Targeted Reading Skills:

· Condense or summarize ideas from one or more texts

· Compare/contrast information from one or more texts

· Make text-to-text, text-to-self, and/or text-to-world connections

What is it?

The name of this reading strategy is inspired by the work of Louise Rosenblatt (1978), who explained reading as a transactional process that occurs between the text and the reader. Rather than assume that meaning is fixed and located within the text, Rosenblatt, a pioneer of reader response criticism, argued that meaning is the result of the transaction that occurs between the reader and the text. Jude Ellis has built on the concept of reading as a transactional process by developing a flexible framework for engaging students in self-directed journal writing.

What does it look like?

Although the focus of this strategy will often be narrative texts, the list certainly can be altered for informational texts as well. At the beginning of a major work, students are given a list of possibilities for journal entries that ask them to interact with the text on a regular basis as they proceed with their reading. The parameters and list provided below (Ellis, 2003) are simply meant as “starting points;” the teacher or students can generate additions specific to a text.

Transactional Reading Journal

Directions: The writing you will do for this text is of a more personal nature than we have done on previous texts. You are to create ten well-crafted and polished journal entries in response to this novel; each should be a minimum of two typed double-spaced pages. The following is a list of possibilities or suggestions, but by no means is it exhaustive; let your imaginations go wild!

The journal entries must cover the entire book; they should be spread evenly in relation to the beginning, middle and end of the novel. They should also reflect a variety of the choices listed below. A minimum of three should be based on writer’s craft (the first bulleted item), but the remaining seven choices are up to you.

Fully examine and explain a particular piece of the writer’s craft; you may want to consider any one of the following and explain how it underscores one of the motifs or themes of the book: metaphor, foreshadowing, symbolism, characterization, structure, hyperbole, imagery, diction, voice, etc.
Create a piece of writing that describes and explains a personal reaction to a character, place or event in the text.
Write a fictional letter to one or more of the characters or create a letter written from one character in the novel to another that expresses some unspoken feelings or thoughts.
React, respond and explicate a “five star quote” of your choice. A “five star quote” is a quote that “jumps off the page” at you for any number of reasons. It may be aphoristic, profound, humorous, universal, or any reason you choose. For clarity, you must include the entire quote somewhere in the entry.
Create an original piece of writing that is inspired by the novel; it may be a poem, short story, short drama or section of dialogue, advertisement, review, etc. (only one of this type of entry is allowed)
Choose a pivotal point in the novel’s plot and rewrite the outcome of a particular event as well as the characters’ motivations, actions and reactions. It is important to focus on one small section; keep it focused and detailed. (As an addendum, you may want to provide an explanation of how it would affect the novel’s direction and/or outcome.)
Create a question that the novel has raised for you and then answer that question in your journal entry. Create an essential question for the text and write a justification and possible answer after completion of your reading.
Create an original piece of art for one of your entries. Some possibilities could include: a drawing, a painting, a sculpture, a dance, a musical score/composition, a collage, etc. (only one of this type of entry is allowed)
Create a correspondence between one of the characters in this novel and a character from one of the other pieces of literature that we read this year.
Create a collection of artifacts (in a box) for one of the characters in the book; attach a written rationale for your choice to each item. (The total of the written rationales should be roughly equivalent to the two-page minimum.)
Choose a minimum of four characters from the novel and find fitting song lyrics for each one of them. Scan or type out the song lyrics and annotate the lyrics for writer’s craft as well as an explanation as to why you chose that particular song for the character. Burn a CD of the songs and create a CD cover that illustrates a major motif or theme of the text.
Create a “conversation across time” by having one of the characters in the text dialogue with a fictional or nonfiction persona from another time period/century.
Make a prediction early in the book. Revisit the prediction after finishing the book. Compare and contrast your prediction with the ending. To what extent was your prediction satisfied and why?
Create a short list of enduring understandings that emerge as you read. Use evidence from the book to support your claims about he enduring understandings you take away from the book. How will these understandings shape decisions you will make in the future? How should these understandings shape our society?
Create a new kind of journal entry, write a description of it, then complete the entry. Your entry could become a model for future entries.

Click here for a Word version of this example.

How could I use, adapt or differentiate it?

This strategy can be adapted for any grade level, and students can be provided with the flexibility to develop their own journal prompts, which they can also share with the class.