III. Double-Entry Journal (DEJ)
There are various ways to use the double-entry journal. What they all have in common is the goal of getting students to record something they notice in a text–or an immediate impression–in the left-hand column and then to step back and reflect in some way in the right-hand column. The purpose is to help students find ways into a text, connect their own experiences and thinking with the text in ways they may not be used to. The example below shows the reader in the first column simply “pointing” to various places in the text. Double-Entry Journal #2, shown afterwards, is slightly different.
DEJ #1. Students write in the first column items more or less literally from the text they are reading; in the second column they comment on the item in the first column.)
Student Example
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Excerpt from duPlessy’s Essay First paragraph “I gasp for air.” Second paragraph “Pathetic Dribble! You call that a story!” Du Plessy says she writes out of revenge for reality. |
My Response I sat and read the Du Plessy essay and found myself really into the story. The first paragraph really let me in. I like how she starts off with this image of her dream and makes you feel like you are right there with her in this dream. This line makes you see how scared and terrified she was at that moment. I think starting off the paper this way took me into the story and made me want to keep reading. I feel this is very important in writing. Grab a readers attention in the beginning by starting off with a bang and they will want to keep on reading. Start off boring and they will not want to continue. This essay did indeed grab my attention. I did not understand the second paragraph at all. I don?t know if it was just me but I became very confused. In the beginning we have this image of a nightmare about Du Plessy’s friend and from there she goes into talking about her father interupting her whenever she tried to speak. Also, a question mark was added after the sentence and it was not a question at all nor could it be made out to be a question. I did not get this. At this part of the Du Plessy paper, I feel as though I am right there with her father. By quoting what he says we see exactly the mood he was in and understand the tone of voice he was speaking in. She was reading him a story she had written and he is saying that it is dribble. This shows how he did not give her a chance and was so quick to say her work was bad. |
DEJ #2 (from Seminar in Teaching and Learning, The Philadelphia Writing Project, 1992). The following chart comprises instructions for what to write in the left- and right-hand columns.
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Collecting Making notes on what stands out while reading, listening, or observing
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Connecting Comment on your own notes
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