Double Entry Journals - Additional Info

In class we have covered our original DEJ Instructions.
There have been a few great questions asked that I wanted to answer for everyone:

1.) What exactly constitutes a quotation?

A quotation can be narration OR dialogue. You are NOT limited just to what the characters say.

2.) What kinds of quotations should I choose and what should I write about?

Find passages that you think help us better understand the author�s subject matter, characterizations, attitude, and especially THEMES (messages/�big ideas�). If you find yourself simply repeating what the quotation says, you might want to select a different quotation or reevaluate how you are approaching the response. NO SUMMARIES!

3.) How long should my responses be?

While I am more concerned with the depth of your thought, you need to stretch yourself and write a few sentences about each (at least three and possibly more).

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Example: To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 1

Quotations	Responses
�When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow . . . (3). (My Note: I have not included the entire quotation to which I am referring. Instead, I use an ellipsis [ . . . ] to quote only the part that is most important to what I want to talk about.)	I remember breaking my foot before a choir concert. I was not feeling well and had to leave the risers before a concert. When I was hopping down from the third riser, I landed on the side of my foot and broke it. All I cared about when I was recovering was being able to walk without crutches or a walking cast again. This seems to be how Jem kind of feels. (Making a Connection)
Atticus, the lawyer, �knew his people, they knew him, and because of Simon Finch�s industry, Atticus was related by blood or marriage to nearly every family in the town� (5). (My Note: Instead of quoting the part about Atticus and his job immediately before this, I put it as a side note at the front before the quotation.)	Atticus seems to be a well-respected person in Maycomb, and since he is a lawyer, he also must be fairly   intelligent. Maycomb must be a relatively small town where everyone knows everyone if Atticus is indeed related to most of the people. I think Atticus most likely will play an important role in this book because of his position. (Interpeting/Making a Prediction)
�There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go . . . nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb County. But it was a time of vague optimism for some of the people: Maycomb County had recently been told that it had nothing to fear but fear itself� (7, 8). (My Note: Since my quotation wraps to the next page, I made a note of it by putting both pages numbers after the quotation. Notice that there is ALWAYS a page number after each quotation.)	Apparently Maycomb is also a very slow, sleepy town that is pretty isolated from everything else. This seems to be especially true since they only have a �vague� notion of FDR�s speech (an allusion to the Great Depression of the 1930s � must be the era in which the story takes place) and there is �nothing� outside of Maycomb County. I wonder why they see the world this way � maybe people don�t travel because of the Depression or because that�s just not what people did. (Interpreting/Asking a Question)
�The Radleys, welcome anywhere in town, kept to themselves, a predilection unforgivable in Maycomb. . . .� (9). (My Note: In my response, I touched on one of the themes of the novel�prejudice�which is appearing in an atypical way.)	It seems that the town is a little closed minded in viewing the Radleys since they don�t go to church or do other things common in Maycomb. This seems to be a prejudice against their lifestyle since it seems that the town might not really know them and has become pretty superstitious about them. People often get suspicious about what they don�t understand or what seems strange to them. (Extending the Meaning)