tracking your thinking

Reading a lot is only one part of growing as a reader; you actually have to think about what you’re reading and analyze it in order to become a truly strong and proficient reader.  Here are some ways for you to track your thinking as you read your independent reading book:

• Putting Post-Its directly in your book
  
• Writing notes / quick jots in your notebook

It is important to write your ideas AS you read to remember your thinking BEFORE your thinking changes and BEFORE the book changes! 

what do i take notes about??

On your Post-Its or in your notebook, you can: 

• Identify Notice & Note Signposts  (e.g. Contrasts & Contradictions, Memory Moments, Again and Again, Tough Questions, Aha Moments, Words of the Wiser)
• Record your theories about characters
  
• Track character change
• Record your questions
• Identify parts of the book that support your theories/ideas
• Make connections (to other texts, to yourself, to the world)
• Write your emotional reactions
• Make predictions
• Track evidence for theme
  
• Summarize BRIEFLY (if necessary)