The Sticky-Note Book Report

I knew something was going right this year when I overheard this conversation: one sophomore asked the other if he had finished the book he had chosen for a book report.

“Yeah, I actually read the whole thing since I was doing the notes.”

“The notes” meant the new sticky-note option for a book report, a departure from traditional reading journals or a summary/evaluation. The format resulted from an effort to raise my students’ consciousness about their own reading strategies and experiences.

Picking up on Cris Tovani’s idea of writing responses to texts on sticky notes, from I Read It But I Don't Get It (Stenhouse, 2000), I offered an option to the traditional report: while reading, use sticky notes to record responses.

To guide students, I handed out a list of twelve categories of reader responses that Carol Booth Olson mentions in her book The Reading/Writing Connection (Pearson, 2003). The categories she suggests are:

tapping prior knowledge
asking questions
predicting
visualizing
making connections
adopting an alignment
forming interpretations
monitoring
revising meaning
analyzing the author’s craft
relating and reflecting
evaluating

(Olson also suggests sentence starters for each of these categories. The companion Web site for The Reading/Writing Connection at www.ablongman.com/olson provides a handout of these sentence starters as part of Chapter 2 materials, but the stipulation for the use of these online materials is that they be used by instructors using the accompanying text in their classrooms.)

These aren’t the only options for reader response categories; the class could come up with some additional or alternate categories and sentence starters based on past experiences with thinking, talking, and writing about their reading. Additional prompts may overlap or fall under the categories on the list above, but a wide range of prompts can help ensure that all students will find ideas that inspire them. For instance, additional prompts might include:

● Stop at a passage you find vivid or suspenseful and list a few specific words that help create that effect.
● When you find something in the reading very funny or sad, add a note describing how you think the author created this moment.
● When you read a word you don’t know, write down the word and your guess about what it means. Then look it up and see if you were right.
● Does a character in the book remind you of a family member or close friend? Write the character’s name, who he/she reminds you of, and why.
● Does a conversation in the book sound like one you’ve had with a friend or relative? Describe the situation in which you had this same conversation.

My directions to students were simple: write 20 notes minimum, cover the book, use at least six of the categories I handed out (including both Olson’s and those brainstormed in class), and don’t write summaries. The following examples of sticky notes were produced by one of my students who was reading Gulliver's Travels:

“Who tied Gulliver up? I’ll bet there are natives on the island.”

“I had trouble visualizing the measurements Gulliver made. It’s hard to imagine the Brobdingnagian’s size.”

“This law seems so weird. It reminds me that I learned that it’s illegal in Kansas City to have ice cream on cherry pie.”

“These yahoos remind me of the satyrs in Greek mythology.”

“I’m getting really interested in the story now that the monkey has taken the box with Gulliver inside up to the roof. I wonder if he’ll drop him. Will Gulliver be OK?”

“I love the way Swift says that the Houyhnhnms ‘have no word in their language to express lying or falsehood.’”

“Here Swift tells us the Lilliputians have to do very strange things to become part of the court. I think he is talking about how politicians would do anything to get into office.”

The day the books came in with sticky notes attached, I asked students to do one more note—to give honest feedback on the assignment. Results were overwhelmingly positive. Many students commented it was “easier” than writing a reading journal or essay report. One sophomore just liked avoiding the traditional report: “I liked this assignment. I don’t like writing book reports but I like reading.”

Others had book-specific comments, such as a senior who read Wuthering Heights, which is often confusing due to repeated character names. She said, “It helped to keep track of everything that was going on, so if I forgot who someone was, I could just look back at my notes. It also helped to give insight into why the author wrote certain things, which is harder to do after you’ve read it. I think it made the whole book easier to remember.”

As I read the notes in students’ books, with questions and predictions and connections to their lives, I was convinced the students had indeed been reading—and thinking about their reading. Grading was easy using a simple checklist of points for adequate quantity, quality, and variety of notes; scores were high.

Why was this experiment successful? I think it struck a balance between teacher guidance, in the form of the suggested categories for response, and student independence.  No one complained of too much or too little direction. Also, according to students’ evaluations, the sticky-note procedure accomplished several goals:

Improved reading focus, comprehension, and involvement in the book

“I love this idea for someone like me who does not enjoy reading. It helps you follow along and understand the book better.”

“It made me think throughout the book about what I was reading.

“After I was done I could go back and answer all the questions so it made me understand the book more.”

Increased motivation to finish independent reading

“It’s a wonderful way to get a person to actually read the book. Even though I didn’t think this book was wonderful, I still read it and put in my input.”

Greater consciousness of reading processes

“It helped make you realize what you’re thinking.”

“I liked that sometimes I made a guess of what was to happen and either it did or didn’t.”

“I liked the sticky notes because it’s jottings of the thoughts I have anyway.”

Student ownership of reading

“I liked doing this because it gives you a free frame of thought. You’re not required to look at the book the way the teacher wants you to, but can take interest in the parts you like.”

“I liked it that we had a choice.”

What’s next? I definitely will use the sticky-note book report in the future with one modification. Some students felt constrained to stop and write frequently. One student said she was “bugged [because] it makes you stop reading so you can write.” Next time I will emphasize that the purpose is to record immediate thoughts and responses. I will model with a book I’m reading, with frequent notes at the beginning, fewer in the middle when characters and events are clear, and more at the end as questions are answered and new insights occur.

My future students will do the sticky-note book report which, according to one of my sophomore students “was awesome: it helped me concentrate on what I was reading.”

And it helped me know my students were thoughtful and successful readers.

Judith Sheridan, East Grand Forks Senior High, East Grand Forks, Minnesota