Last time, I wrote about 11 Brilliant Strategies for Dialectic Journals for Better Close Reading. Dialectic Journals are also called double entry journals. And as I was writing that post, I realized, I need another post to address Teaching Students How to Write Double Entry Journals.
Students will need help in both choosing the passages to select for the first column and in developing their responses in the second column. If students have never been asked to write these dialogic responses, it will be asking a lot for them to know which passages to select and how to develop their own writing.
How to Do Double Entry Journals
Double Entry Journals sometimes called dialectic journals are reader response journals in which the students quote a passage from the text in the first of two columns and then respond to it in the second column. For more on ways to incorporate reader response criticism, check out this post and for more on dialectic journals, check out this post.
Guiding Students to Select the Perfect Passage
There are a number of ways to start students in the process of selecting a passage, but ultimately we hope that they will choose passages based on patterns they see in a text.
Start with a short text that everyone can read in just a few minutes. Select an accessible poem or a flash fiction story (For a list of my favorites, check out this post). Have everyone read the text. It is not necessary to give any guidance before the reading. One of my favorite phrases for reading a text for the first time is “read and annotate for meaning.”
Then use one journal types from my last post to have students select passages. It’s easiest to start with an “I Like This” Dialectic Journal or an Association Journal.
Model with a think aloud. Present the students with the template for a dialectic journal or just have them draw a line down the center of a piece of paper. (Get a free dialectic journal pdf template for “Fire and Ice” here.) Then copy a passage into column one. As you do, discuss your reasons for selecting that passage. It stands out because of the language, the contrasts, the details, the characterization, etc. You can totally target this with the skills you are aiming for with the text.
Guide Students in Writing Double Entry Journals
Once you have a passage, show the students how you would respond. I love to write live in front of the students using the document camera. I think it is Kelly Gallagher who says that you are the best writer in the room, so be sure to model that for your kids.
You want to guide the students to be specific and detailed in their responses. So model in the same way. Start by making a more personal response and tell the students what you realized about the passage. Write as you talk it through. You can also note questions that the passage raises, connections you make to your own beliefs or values, or what it makes you think or feel.
Once you have made the more personal connections, take it a step farther to incorporate observations about author’s craft: diction, figurative language or imagery. Look at how the author is developing the characters or the setting or the themes.
15 Poems that Work Well for Starting Double Entry Journals
Poetry is a great way to introduce high school students to double entry journals. Try these poems with your students:
| Title | Author | Dialectic Journal Style |
| “Heroics” | Julia Alvarez | Most Important Word or Passage, Association, Text to Self, Text to Text |
| “Fire and Ice” | Robert Frost | Perfect for a Contrast Dialectic Journal. (Free Fire and Ice Double Entry Journal PDF) |
| “Metaphor” | Eve Merriam | Text to Self |
| “For My Sister Molly” | Alice Walker | Perfect for Association Journals, Questions Only, Repetition, Contrast |
| “The Writer” | Richard Wilbur | Association Journals |
| “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” | Dylan Thomas | Repetition, Text to Text, Contrast, “I Like This,” Questions Only |
| “Still I Rise” | Maya Angelou | (Pair with “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou and/or “Sympathy” Paul Laurence Dunbar for Association Journals) Repetition, Text to Text, Contrast, “I Like This,” Questions Only |
| “This is Just to Say” | William Carlos Williams | “I Like This,” Most Important Word, Association |
| “Heart to Heart” | Rita Dove | Contrast, Most Important Word |
| “The Rider” | Naomi Shihab Nye | Association, Most Important Word or Passage, Text to Self, Questions Only |
| “Grief Calls Us to Things of This World” | Sherman Alexie | (pair with “Love Calls Us to Things of this World” by Richard Wilbur) Association, Questions only, Text to Text, Text to Self, Most Important Word or Passage |
| “A Legacy” | Pregeeta Sharma | Most Important Passage, Contrast, Most Important Word or Passage |
| “Imagining My Neighbor” | Loretta Diane Walker | Text to Self, Contrast, Most Important Word or Passage, Questions Only |
| “The Republic of Poetry” | Martín Espada | Most Important Word or Passage, “I Like This,” Association, Repetition, Contrast |
| “My Father. A Tree.” | Tina Chang | Text to Self, Association, Most Important Word or Passage |
Easy, Low Prep Close Reading Strategies Using Double Entry Journals
So if you are not already convinced, just consider how easy it is to introduce your students to double entry journals. You don’t even need copies, just a blank sheet of paper will do! Writing double entry journals are the perfect way to encourage you students to practice close reading while honing their analysis skills. I would love to know if you try them. Let me know in the comments below.
More Resources:
11 Strategies for Dialectic Journals for Better Close Reading
5 Brilliant Strategies for Better Close Reading
20 Short Short Stories for AP Lit
Poetry Ideas for National Poetry Month (Smith Teaches 9 to 12)
Product: Characterization Triple Entry Journals
Freebie: Double Entry Journal for “Fire and Ice”
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