Successful+Log+Entries

An **Excellent** log encompasses the reader’s thoughtful and complete response to the work as a whole. It analyzes not only the text, but the reader’s experience of the text, regularly using terminology appropriate to the student’s grade level and maturity, and to the genre of the work. It includes only the original ideas of the student and the text itself, which it effectively supports with aptly chosen quotes and abundant explanations. It tends to explore, discover, test, inquire, compare, contrast, connect and evaluate. It does very little summarizing, except in order to clarify a difficult section. It may reflect a variety of strategies the reader has used to make meaning of her/his experience. 91-100%

A **Good** log reflects the reader’s response to the work as a whole. It analyzes not only the text, but the reader’s experience of the text, occasionally using terminology appropriate to the student’s grade level and maturity, and to the genre of the work. It includes mainly the original ideas of the student and the text itself, offering opinions and interpretations with adequate support and explanation. It tends to explore yet not discover, test yet not evaluate, inquire yet not answer, compare and contrast yet not conclude. It may make vague rather than specific connections. It may retell, summarize, preach, or list without a clear purpose. It supports opinions and interpretations with brief or less effective explanations. It may reflect a limited number of strategies the reader has used to make meaning of her/his experience. 81-90%

A **Fair** log reflects the reader’s limited or partial response to the whole work. It records the reader’s response to the beginning, middle, and end of a text, but often falls into merely reporting instead of thoughtful analysis and inquiry, which it does contain. It uses little specialized vocabulary with reference to literary genre or the expected age and maturity of the student. It includes mainly the original ideas of the student and the text itself, but may offer some opinions and interpretations without adequate support or explanation. While asking questions or posing problems, it may not always attempt to answer or resolve them. It makes occasional connections among ideas within and outside of the text. Responses tend to be brief, only about twice the length of the short quotes it discusses, seldom dedicating much space to new ideas or thinking, which need more time and space to develop. The log does show evidence of critical thinking, a reading of the entire work, and reflection by the student about her/his experience of reading the work, but it does not successfully communicate how the student has made meaning of the experience. 70-80%

A **poor or unsatisfactory** log reflects a severely limited response or partial reading of the work. It contains little analysis, little inquiry, and may be dominated by summaries rather than by original content. Its vocabulary is not selected with a view of the genre of the work, grade level or maturity expected of the student. It is unacceptably brief, makes few if any connections to other ideas in the work or outside it, poses little in the way of inquiry or thoughtfulness about the reading, and demonstrates a lack of engagement with the text. It does not communicate effectively. 0-69%