Reading Diary Assessment for Week 8

For my reading diaries over the first half of this semester, I would start reading the book and take notes as I read. I did not read the reading guides before or during as suggested in the instructions, but I did like to read them afterwards. For length, I just took notes over what I had definite reactions to in the readings and that always seemed to be long enough. I separated my notes based on the chapters. I would put the title of each chapter and then take notes in paragraph form and then start another paragraph at the beginning of a new chapter. I thought the instructions given to us were helpful. I think it really helped me to take notes while reading, rather than after reading, because I was able to talk about what bothered me or made me happy right in that moment, reading it for the first time. The length of my posts varied from about 400 words to 800 words depending on the content of the reading assignment. For example, when Rama sent Sita away, I was very upset, so that reading diary was probably pretty long.

Overall, I would say that the length of my reading diaries is just about right. One thing that I may start doing in my reading diaries is including an image. I think this would help me remember certain events when looking back at the post. Previously, I did not include images except for in one of my diary posts. I also included a favorite quote in one of my diary posts.

Before starting a new reading diary, I would always read the previous reading diary to remember where I left off. This was very helpful in reminding me of the recent events that had occurred in the previous reading. One thing that I think I could do to make my reading diaries more helpful for my storytelling posts would be discussing ideas I have for that assignment while I write my reading diary. Overall, I think I have been doing a fairly good job with the reading diary posts. In general, I remember most of the reading. I think it helped that we read two versions of the same story. For my other classes, I am pretty much always reading about biology. In all the different biology classes, many of the same concepts are reinforced, so I think I remember quite a bit of what I have read for those classes simply because I have read some concepts over and over again. For long-term memory, re-reading is most effective for me. I think that doing these reading diaries also helps with my memory of the book because it makes me read more actively!