Reading Log

 

Reading log – ONCE

This is your reading log. You use the same log for all four parts of the book. It is built on what research says about how people actually learn – so it is not about writing a lot, it is about writing the right things, at the right time.

Why the log looks like this

Your brain does not learn by reading. It learns by pulling things back out. That is why most of this log asks you to close the book before you write. 

The log – do this for every part

Write the part number and the date at the top.

Step 1 – Before you read (5 min, book closed)

• Brain dump. Write everything you remember from the previous part – events, names, places, feelings. No looking. Two minutes. (Part 1: write everything you remember from chapter 1 and the facts we talked about.)
• Prediction. Read the title of the part in the instructions. Write one sentence: I think in this part… Give one reason.

Step 2 – While you read (as you go)

• Every time something important happens, write it down in your own words – one line, no copying. 
• Collect five words you didn't know. For each one: the word, what it means, and a sentence of your own using it. Not the sentence from the book.
• Write down one question you have while reading. Anything: Why did Felix…? What is a…? Is that true?

Step 3 – After you read (10 min, book closed)

• Brain dump again. Write everything you remember from this part. Then open the book and add what you missed in a different colour. The colour shows you what your brain drops that is what to look at again.
• Self-quiz. Pick three questions from the On the lines list for this part. Answer them without looking. Then check.
• Explain it. Choose one event from your list and answer: Why did this happen? What did it change? Two or three sentences.
• Connect it. Finish this sentence: This part connects to the earlier part because…

Step 4 – Check yourself (3 min)

Question	Your answer
How well do I understand this part? (1 = lost, 5 = I could explain it to someone)
Was my prediction right? What actually happened instead?
Which of my three quiz answers was I least sure about – and was I right?
What was hard in this part – the language, the story, or something else?
One thing I will do differently when I read the next part:

Step 6 – Sixty seconds (in your group)

Take turns. Each person explains the part in sixty seconds, book closed, log closed. The others listen and then add one thing that was missed. Teaching something is the strongest test of whether you know it.

Once a week – the look-back

At the start of each new part, before Step 1, spend three minutes on the parts before the previous one. Book closed, log closed:

• Three things I still remember from Part …
• One thing I had forgotten (check the log, then write it down).

. Ask yourself in week 5 how much of Part 1 you still remember – you will be surprised.

My word bank

Keep all your words from Step 2 in one list here. At the end of the book you will have twenty words that are yours. Test yourself on them: cover the meaning, say it, check.