Reading Response Format Sheet
Respond, in complete sentences, to the following four questions regarding the piece of literature you have chosen to analyze.
Type the name of the selection at the top of the page and number your responses. Please single-space your answers and leave a space before the next answer.
1. What did you bring to the reading? By this I mean what memories from your life experiences made you think about yourself and/or what the author is conveying in the selection? This response is not a summary, nor am I asking you to agree or disagree with the writer.
For example, don’t say, “I can’t connect with this poem because I’ve never shot an elephant”; instead, think about anyone you know who hunts, what you think about hunting, or focus on lines in the literature. What is the author trying to get you to see in this poem? Comment on that.
2. What one line had the greatest impact on you? I expect you to write the line and explain how it either had an impact on you or why you think it is an important quotation.
3. What questions do you have for the author? What don’t you understand
about the selection? Again, if you are tempted to answer “none,” think some more. There is always something you might want to know if you had the opportunity to talk to the author.
4. If you were to lead an in-class discussion on the selection, how would you begin this discussion? What question(s) would you ask your classmates in order to stimulate discussion?
