Or, if you're trying to keep your notes entirely separate, don't forget a notebook for all your observations. Plus, book annotation tabs make it fast and convenient to find sections where you left a lot of notes. These are all useful tools for including longer thoughts without cramming a page or making annotations without physically marking up the text. To take your book annotations further, consider including sticky notes, note cards, and annotation tabs among your supplies. You may also want to grab a pack of assorted highlighters, which are great for easily color-coding noteworthy phrases or paragraphs. A 12-inch ruler can be a bit unwieldy, though, so keep an eye out for shorter options, like a miniature six-inch ruler. A ruler is also handy to help keep any arrows and underlining neat. Form questions while you read and try to answer them later. Turn headings into questions and then answer them as you read. This is a quick and engaging way to take notes. Felt-tipped pens may be too heavy, so consider colorful ballpoints or classic gel pens. Take brief notes in your own words about the main concepts and key words in the margins of your text. Make sure they're pleasant to write with, but won't bleed through the page. While annotating an e-book may not be as intimate and visceral as decorating a physical text, it still provides you with an outlet to track your thoughts and reactions.įirst and foremost, treat yourself to some nice pens in various colors. These may include adding notes, bookmarks, and even highlighting passages. Whether you're a fan of Amazon's Kindle, the Barnes & Noble Nook, or a third-party e-reader, chances are good that your app has annotation capabilities. You may have to return a library book, but you can keep your annotation notebook in perpetuity.īut what if you're an aficionado of e-books? Good news, tech-savvy reader: You can also annotate digital copies of all your favorite tomes. Keeping a separate annotation notebook is especially handy if you prefer to read a lot of library books rather than purchasing your own copies. Just keep in mind that page numbering may vary between editions of a particular text. For an even quicker, more helpful reference, jot down the page or chapter numbers you're referring to. Record your thoughts, copy entire quotations, and take notes on informative content. Now that my own children are reading higher level texts in high school, I can see the importance of annotaing literature efficiently.If you have a lot to say, you can also pick up a separate notebook or bullet journal to serve as a one-stop shop for all your annotations. Rather than giving a blanket direction “to mark important things,” offering a prepared list helps students build this essential reading skill. Because these types of sections in the story were marked, students created much more thoughtful essays when they later analyzed a theme from the novel ( CLICK HERE to read about the theme activity).īy providing lists for shorter reading selections and then scaffolding students to build personal lists with longer texts, the learners will begin to identify essential ideas in literature independently. We immediately added that to our list and started notating scenes and quotes where Billy shows emotion. Now isn’t the time to challenge yourself. Research shows that extensive reading is most effective when you start by reading a lot of easier books. Pick a book where you can understand around 98 of the words (or more). In Where the Red Fern Grows, students comment early on about how often Billy cries. To maximize fun and learning while reading for fun, just follow these 4 simple rules: 1. Start tracking those items as the reading continues. For example, in The Giver, students begin to recognize references to pale eyes or the use of capitalization for things that are typically common nouns. Read a few chapters with the group and then begin keeping a list of ideas the students believe are important. For longer texts such as a novel unit, do not pre-print a list.I am not sure about your classroom, but my students have pencil cases overflowing with colorful pen options, so they actually like this task. Use a variety of eye catching symbols and colors. Underline a quote with a specific symbol in it. When students mark the text, use different types of marks.Then, as a whole group, in reading circles, in pairs… students review the list while re-reading the story a second time and annotate key features and quotes. If a short story is only 1-2 pages, we read through the story one time without stopping, analyzing, or interrupting. ( CLICK HERE to see my short story resources that include these lists). Other items might be weather, a special object a main character has, or a detail related to the setting. And finally, students are on the lookout for one important word or idea. They might look for a specific figure of speech that is emphasized in the story– often similes. Focus ideas I typically ask students to find are descriptions of the main character.
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