Interactive Note- taking Journal

(Formative Assessment) –Due Tuesday, April 6

NameHourDate

Purpose:

This journal requires students to look at the writer’s craft as they read the book. The analysis component of this journal requires students to go beyond basic comprehension and to critically evaluate writer’s style.

Directions:

As you read the novel, mark passages that contain examples of the literarytechniques listed below. Use a double column note-taking format to write the passage, explain how the technique functions, and analyze its effect on the meaning of the text (why it’s important). You may type this assignment or write it out on loose leaf paper. If you choose to write this out by hand, it must be meticulously legible and organized so it is easy to read. If the assignment is difficult to read, I will not accept it. The journals should reflect some effort – neat, organized, easy to read – and not be thrown together during Guided Study. Use the required MLA heading for all of our assignments at the top.

Format:

  • Write the passage in the left column. Place quotation marks around the passage and use textual documentation after the direct quotation. (page number)
  • In the right column, identify the literary technique used within the passage (what it is). Then, explainhow it’s functioning in the passage and why it’s important to the author’s intent of the passage.
  • Literary Techniques: diction,[1] syntax, imagery, figurative language, tone, symbolism, allusion, irony, use of detail, sound devices (alliteration, onomatopoeia, anaphora), point of view, setting, style, etc.

Passage / Explanation
“There was a cold November wind blowing through 116th St. It rattled the tops of garbage cans, sucked window shades out through the top of opened windows and set them flapping back against the windows; and it drove most of the people off the street…” (1). / This passage illustrates personification and imagery.
The violent characteristics of the wind – how it rattles the cans, sucks the shades, and driving people – personify an angry wind that function to give the urban setting a dangerous feeling. This ominous tone is compounded by the kinetic images of physical objects being moved violently throughout the street.
This is important because the writer intendsto characterize the city as an active, malicious presence, and personifying the wind thusly makes it a real force in the characters’ lives.

Grading Guidelines:

  • You must write 20 entries in your journal: one entry for every chapter.
  • At the end of the novel, you must turn in your Interactive Journal. It will then be formally evaluated using the checklist below.

Grading Criteria – each criteria is worth up to five points / Student Eval / Teacher Eval
The note-taking journal is in double column format and is legible.
The journal contains 20 entries—1 entry per chapter.
Passages are in quotation marks and are correctly documented.
The passages are from different pages showing progression through the book.
The explanation of the passage accurately identifies the literary technique in the passage.
The explanation correctly identifies the function of the technique.
The explanation of the importance of the technique and the effect of the device on the meaning of the text contains evidence of critical thinking and analysis.

Diction Analysis

When reading for diction, it is not enough to say “X uses diction” or to blindly name the diction (i.e., “tactile diction” – what is that?). As readers, you want to be able to distinguish the type and purpose of the diction. Writers might shift from one to the next in a single passage, so the question becomes how does this type of diction function? What is the author’s intent in using this language?

“The caterwauling[2] horns had reached a crescendo and I turned away and cut across the lawn toward home. I glanced back once. A wafer of the moon was shining over Gatsby’s house, making the night fine as before and surveying the laughter and the sound of his still glowing garden. A sudden emptiness seemed to flow now from the windows and the great doors, endowing with complete isolation the figure of the host who stood on the porch, his hand up in a formal gesture of farewell.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

L – Low or Informal
Diction of everyday use, relaxed and conversational, idiom and dialect, jargon and slang / What is it? / Function/Importance
E – Elevated or Formal
Elevated tone, multi-syllable words, free of slang, sophisticated syntax and word choice
A – Abstract or Concrete
Words that denote ideas, emotions, conditions and concepts (abstract) or words that describe physical qualities (concrete)
D – Denotation/Connotation
The actual, literal meaning (denotation) or the implied, emotional meaning (connotation)

[1] If you use diction, use it correctly. See the following page for how to accurately use diction.

[2]Caterwaul: 1. to cry or screech like a cat in heat; 2. to make a shrill, discordant sound; 3. to have a noisy argument