Reading Response Logs

One my favorite reading strategies that Tovani introduced was the Reading Response Log.  Tovani (2004) writes: "These response logs allow me to see what students are reading and thinking about with self-selected texts (not assigned reading)." (p.110) I found the guideline sheet (in the appendix) that she gives to her students especially helpful in regards to setting out clear expectations for each entry. Tovani asks students to write a 4-6 sentence summary of the pages they read, a 12-15 sentence response to what they read, and to include 5 sticky notes that they used to mark the text to demonstrate their strategic thinking. Asking students to simply write a response to every 25 pages of independent reading could be daunting to students, especially to struggling writers. It is therefore essential to lay out clear guidelines for the entries as Tovani does. Tovani even gives ideas for starting a response such as: "I want to remember this because..., I can relate to this because..., I am confused by this part because..." (Tovani, 2004, appendix) Students can keep these guidelines in the front of their Reading Response Logs.

I like the Reading Response Log strategy for three main reasons. First of all, it allows students to hold on to their thinking and gather evidence while they read to be used in a final essay or culminating project. Secondly, I like that Tovani uses these response logs for independent reading as opposed to assigned reading. This helps students to see that reading strategies are not just pointless school activities, but can really help them to further understand and engage with reading of their own choice. In other words, the response logs can be a connection to the world outside of the classroom. And finally, Tovani mentions that the response logs are a way for her to further get to know her individual students because they are writing about books of their own choice. This is extremely important if we want to successfully differentiate our classes to meet the needs and interests of a variety of learners.

Lastly, I think we should all make note of  Tovani's advice to only collect 6 (or whatever number works for us) response logs at a time so that we don't ruin weekends grading 30 response logs at a time! If we don't make grading manageable, we run the risk of becoming lazy and assigning less work or failing to provide essential timely feedback to our students. The rotating collection cycle is an excellent solution that works well with this type of on-going assignment.


Tovani, C. (2004). Do I really have to teach reading? Markham, Canada: Stenhouse.