LNC Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 I would like something that I can forward to my junior high girl's book club. I want to email them instructions for starting their common place books. Does anyone have a link or an attachment to email me? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 (edited) from Self Made Scholar The Commonplace Book another source from Literary Culture I didn't t have time to read through all these, but I hope you find them helpful. Please share with us the instructions you come up with. Best wishes. Edited June 11, 2012 by Twigs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 more! D*I*Y Planner ehow Andrew Gudgel's Writing Home Page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marbel Posted June 11, 2012 Share Posted June 11, 2012 Try this link for Google Books. It should take you to page 40 of TWEM, which has her specific guidelines for the commonplace book. (I think the entire section is pages 35 - 40 or thereabouts.) My daughter and I started commonplace books a few years ago after seeing one at a local historic house. After our initial enthusiasm wore off, we have neglected them, but thanks to your post I'm going to pull them out and get us going again. So, thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildiris Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 This is the best resource I've found for starting a commonplace book. The blog source for this is also good reading. Marks in the Margin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma2Luke Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 This is the best resource I've found for starting a commonplace book. The blog source for this is also good reading. Marks in the Margin Oh what an awesome blog!! Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNC Posted June 12, 2012 Author Share Posted June 12, 2012 I typed out some notes last night for the book club and emailed them. Kind of vague but I think they will get the gist! The formatting is off: _________________________________________________________________ The Reader’s Journal – “A Commonplace Book†“Once a day…call yourselves to an account what new ideas, what new proposition or truth you have gained, what further confirmation of known truths, and what advances you have made in any part of knowledge.†Isaac Watts, Improvement of the Mind 1. Invest in a journal: blank book with or without lines (if you like to draw in your reading journal). 2. Write the title and author of the book. 3. Keep a list of characters on the first page of your journal under title info. 4. Title each chapter in your journal. Read through the entire chapter once without stopping. If any particular ideas, phrases or sentences strike you, go ahead and jot them down in your journal. Briefly summarize the main event of each chapter. 5. Keep a list of vocabulary words you do not know in each chapter. Write definitions, part of speech and copy the sentence from the book where the word is used. 6. In your initial reading don’t take the time to write down long reflections on a book’s content. Write in your books (bracket in pencil or highlight, and write a note to yourself in your journal. i.e. p.31 “Is it important that books drove Don Quixote out of his wits?â€) Distinguish these notes in some way from your content summaries – jot them down in your journal margins or in a different colored ink. 7. When you are done with the entire book answer most basic questions– Who was the central character in the book? What is the book’s most important event? 8. Answer more advanced questions: Plot -Structure of events -Every story has a flow of development. In the early stages, characters are introduced., the action begun, the setting unfolded; usually some conflict or problem is introduced early on, and this is developed to some complexity. Finally a peak or turning point is reached, the action falls away, and the story comes rapidly to an end. Discovering the conflict, the characters and ideas involved, seeing its complications, detecting the turning point are all aspects of observing plot. -What happens in the story? Character - Protagonist? describe -Antagonist? Describe -supporting characters? -point of view? Theme -ideas “the insight of cluster of related insights the work expresses†concerning some aspect of the human experience. -What ideas are introduced, alluded to, discussed? -Which of these ideas is most central to the action? How does it (they) relate to the plot? If you have analyzed the plot, you will usually grasp the theme without too much difficulty. Plot and theme are almost the same thing. Ie. The plot of Pilgrim’s Progess is closely related to its theme- an extended statement about the course of a Christian’s life from conversion to glorification. -What part do characters play in relation to the theme? -What vision of life does the story convey? Tone - the attitude an author takes towards his subject -witty, reflective, light-hearted gloomy etc? -can vary from character to character or reflect and entire work Symbolism - A symbol is a person, place or thing which stands for something else unnamed. Allusions - story tellers frequently refer to familiar events and places, to persons in other fictional works or ideas or phrases from classic texts such as Shakespeare, Greek Mythology or the Bible. Write these down! -if you know Greek and Roman Mythology and the Bible, you will be in great shape to recognize allusion in most classic fiction. Style - Notoriously difficult to define. A peculiar characteristic of sentence structure or diction in a story or novel. My notes were taken from: The Well Educated Mind, Susan Wise Bauer How to Read Slowly, James Sire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 Just for your trivia, there are some nice journal *apps* that would work for this as well. I've been looking at "My Daily Journal" for my dd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted June 12, 2012 Share Posted June 12, 2012 I typed out some notes last night for the book club and emailed them. Kind of vague but I think they will get the gist! … This looks great! Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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