Response to Literature

What was the selection really about?

Copying permitted

Good readers think about what they read before, during,

and after they read

Copying permitted

Responding to Literature

• Continually respond and predict as you read

• Take notes• Think about patterns—especially literary elements

Copying permitted

Literary Elements

• Setting

• Characters

• Conflict

• Resolution

• ToneCopying permitted

A response to literature is one way to

keep thinking about

what writing means.

Copying permitted

Ask yourself

• What was the text really about?

• How did the author ensure the reader got that message?

Copying permitted

A Response to Literature

• Beginning

• Middle

• End

Copying permitted

Beginning

Include the title, author, and event or aspect focused on.

Copying permitted

Middle

Describe the event or aspect of the selection. Try to describe how the author

told this part of the story.

Copying permitted

End

Explain why the event or aspect is important to the selection as a whole.

Copying permitted

Invitation to Read

• Look at the following response to literature

• Find how the beginning, middle, and end of the response include the criteria listed in the last slide.

Copying permitted

Copying permitted

“A Friendship Fort”

The most important event in Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia is when Jess and Leslie build their fort. Jess is a shy boy who wants to be an artist, and Leslie is the new girl in the neighborhood. They don’t fit in with the other kids, but they get along with each other. Together, Jess and Leslie create Terabithia, a secret meeting place in the woods. (cont.)

Copying permitted

“A Friendship Fort”

To get there, they must cross a creek by swinging on an old rope. Jess and Leslie build a wooden fort in Terabithia and spend a lot of time there. Their little wooden fort takes them to a thousand places. The day Jess and Leslie create Terabithia is the day they began to build their friendship.

(Write Source Grade 6, page 284)

Invitation to Write

• Read a short story or chapter from a novel.• Take notes as you read, thinking about patterns

—like the literary elements.• Focus on one event or aspect that you feel is

important. • Write a paragraph or so detailing your thoughts,

remembering what goes in the beginning, middle, and end.

Copying permitted