Final Response

Topic: Write a literature response to The Revealers showing how and when you used the reading strategies of reflecting, predicting, questioning, summarizing , and visualizing in your reading of the novel. Include page numbers for examples from the text. Refer to your Daybook if you need a review of the strategies.

I reflected a lot in 'The Revealers.' This is because Russel describes and talk about what is going on a lot. I reflected the most when I read the story Catalina wrote about herself (pgs. 69-72). I thought about why she's being so truthful, and why she isn't afraid to tell everybody about her personal life. To make my reflection more connected to me, I thought about if I would do the same thing. I said to myself that I probably could come up with a story, but I definitely wouldn't let others read it.
Predicting was one of the exciting parts of this story. There was a lot going on in this book, and there were details and descriptions that helped you predict what was going to happen next. On page 19, when Russell calls Elliot, he had to wait a while to talk to him. Russell says he hears whispering twice, so you can kind of tell that Elliot's family is making sure nobody mean is going to talk to Elliot. Pages 17 and 18 also helped me predict this, because Russell describes Elliot and how he gets bullied by almost everyone.
Questioning was the second easiest strategy for me. I liked questioning because it helped me stay focused while reading. I would form questions in my mind, and then search for answers while reading. I asked myself the most questions when Elliot fell into the water (pg. 59). I asked myself why Jon and Burke ran away, but Chris stayed to help. I wondered if Elliot would survive. And I thought about if this would have happened if Elliot had not fought back. Some answers were pretty straightforward. Like I found out if Elliot survived or not. But I had to come up with my own answers for the other two questions, because the text didn't give direct answers, even though it gave clues.
I found summarizing the hardest to do. I didn't really do that much summarizing, except for at the end of some chapters. I also summarized Catalina's story (pgs. 69-71). I read the story twice, and then sort of put it in my own words, in a shorter version, so that I could understand it better.
Visualizing was pretty easy for me. Most of the time, images just came into my head withouth me having to think about them. My images were the clearest in the bullying scenes, especially the bridge scene. The author described the scene very well, so on pages 58 and 59, I had a picture in my mind of Elliot dangling upside down, looking and feeling scared, but acting brave. Burke and Jon had red faces, and were shaking with fear. Chris was with them, but not as angry. And finally, Russell, was really scared, incase they let go - which they did.
These were the five reading strategies I used to help me understand and analyze the story better, and each one of them helped in different ways.