Reading Diary Week 8: Review

I noticed that in the instructions it says to just focus on your favorites and not get tied down in note taking. However, I find it most useful to write down key points in all of the stories rather than just my favorites and record my reactions to each one. The main strategy I use for writing my diary posts is, a stated in the last sentence, take note of the main points of the stories and be sure to note if something intrigues me. I typically use the same strategy every time. If I find that my post has become really long, I will go through and delete story notes that are short or uninteresting. I have had the extreme of really short and really long posts, it just depends on the unit. If a story reminds me of another story I have heard, seen, or read, I will include that in my note-taking. Sometimes I just refer vaguely to a story rather than by title. I also tend to take notes while I read. I find this method most effective because I have a really terrible memory and will forget details and things I thought were interesting even directly after I read. I think my diary posts are most useful when I write the storytelling post each week. I like to go back and read my notes so that I can remember which story I liked the most and see if I can imagine a spin to the story that I could write about. I think the most useful thing about my reading posts is that I include links to each individual story, so when I decide on one for storytelling, I can follow along while I write to include certain aspects of the story. Overall, I am not keeping up with the reading very well so far. I have had a really difficult time because once you get behind, you are basically screwed, which I don’t like. I don’t remember much of the reading. As I said before, I have a terrible memory. So, I can remember general details and even specific twists in the story, but I can never remember names, titles, or even which unit the story is in. I don’t have any strategies to make this any better. So, I will keep writing detailed notes in my reading diaries.