Reading Response Graphic Organizer: Help Your Students Choose Quotes from Literature

This graphic organizer worksheet will help guide your intermediate students through the process of drafting an interesting reading response.

This is the first step to learning how to choose meaningful quotes from novels when writing longer essays in high school and university. It takes time to teach students how to actually do this, and this assignment breaks that process down step-by-step.

It includes prompts to help your students think carefully about the following topics:

• Choose an interesting quote from the book they are currently reading. This could be a class novel or an independent reading book.

Summarize plot and characters: They need to explain what has been happening in the story up to this point. What has lead to this quote?

Make text-to-text and text-to-self connections: Students should choose a quote that is impactful to them personally. They should have some kind of connection to this quote.

Share reactions: This prompts students to share their emotions when reading this part of the book.

Form opinions: This is where students start to move towards the idea of a thesis statement. What do they think about this part of the book? Do they agree or disagree with the character's choices?

Visualize the scene: Students draw an image of this part of the book.

How to Use:

This task works well for literature circles, class novel studies, or individual novel studies. After completing this reading response, students could be tasked with writing an organized paragraph to explain their quote and its significance. Having answered all of these prompts, they should have lots to say!

Grades to Use With: This assignment is perfect for middle grades (4-8) who are starting to learn how make deeper and more complex responses to literature (beyond simple comprehension questions).

A double-sided graphic organizer in PDF format