Week 8: Reading Diary Assessment

The main strategy/style I use to write my reading diary posts is to just write down my comments, observations, and feelings regarding the stories we read in that section. I tend to focus on a few major themes or stories that particularly interested me or were new. This has been helpful to me as I have looked back to find stories to write for my Storytelling and Storybook posts.

I noticed that I started off covering things more generally and covering more of what was in the reading, and as time went on I started putting more of my own thoughts and reactions in and focusing on a few key aspects of the reading. I think this is a good strategy - at least it works for me - because this lets me review what I found important or most interesting in the stories, and I can always go back to the reading guides for a straight summary of what happened.

I also find that my strategy for writing the reading diaries helps me to remember the stories. I don't "take notes" in the sense of writing down every character's name and every event in chronological order, etc - but this isn't really that kind of class. By writing about what I found most intriguing/important/troubling/etc - and not just summarizing but adding my own thoughts on the text, saying what other things from literature or real life it reminded me of, etc - I connect to the story more and so I remember it - maybe not every detail, but I remember the archetypes, the characters and events and themes.

If I had any diary tips for other students, it would be to use the space to engage with the text. Don't get worried about summarizing (since that's already available to you), or trying to talk about everything that happened all in one post. Just focus on the parts that you really connected with, and the stories will stick with you longer. And, that way you can go back later and get a custom-made recap of the stories with just the parts you liked best.