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Reader Response Journal Portfolio

Focus: While we started school, I didn’t have clear information about the story elements. I was not sure about the characterization. I didn’t know the difference between theme and topic. Now, I can understand and implement in my Reader Response Journals. The story elements help us to understand the story clearly. For example, we analysis the topic and theme. Topic helps us to understand the author tells us what. Theme helps us to understand what we learn. 

Entry 1:Blue Eyes Far Away

The short story is in the past in the courtroom and Esther Lee’s house. There is a car accident. In the courtroom, everybody becomes angry and the defenses create tension when the events are progressing. 

Esther Lee is the wife of Joseph Lee who had been killed in the car accident. In the story, the author speaks about Joseph Lee: “Joseph Lee was neither wealthy nor a well-known man.” Joseph Lee dies because of Archie Stolt. He is a rich person. We can understand it from these sentences: “The case would cost Archie Stolt money. But he could well afford it.” He thinks he can get out of the courtroom without the punishment, but the events are not progressing like his thoughts. Archie Stolt is a flat character. He tries to get out of the courtroom without the punishment. When the truths come to light, he and his lawyers continue to do this bad behavior. They always say “I object!”. He tries to escape the truths, but he couldn’t. Esther lee is a round character. Firstly she acts like she doesn’t see the scene of the crime, but when the events are progressing, she says everything that she knows about the crime. She changes her behavior. 

I think she doesn’t trust her husband. At the start of the story, she acts like she doesn’t see the scene of the crime. I can’t understand why she doesn’t let the accident to the cops when the accident becomes, and why do you watch your husband with the telescope when he comes home? Why do you act like you don’t see the scene of the accident, especially if the dead person is your husband? I think the most important event is this. She tells everything about the accident that she knows. The result of this is the case can not Archie Stolt money. He must go the jail. The plot is linearly and believable. 

There isn't an author in this story. The author doesn’t speak with the characters. The author wrote this story in the third person “he/she” point of view. The author uses “she said”, “she explained.” We can understand the story is written which point of view from this.

The main conflict is the case. Everybody who is in the courtroom. Discuss the case. Sometimes this discussion creates tension, everybody becomes angry. The defenses are mixing around. I think a big part of the story is conflict because a big part of the story about the case.

I think the climax is Esther Lee tells her defense. When she tells it, she fills the gaps in the case. At the same time, she makes the gaps about the case. She explains how the case becomes and she becomes a question in their mind. “How did she see the scene of the crime from a far distance ?”

I think the theme is maybe a person you know, you think this person trusts you, doesn't trust you. This person probably does interesting things, because this person doesn’t trust you. This person may watch you, follow you, etc. 

Entry 2:Charles 

The short story is at the school time when Laurie goes the kindergarten. They are in school and at home. The events are happening at home and at school. When time progresses, Laurie tells more lies at this time than tells lies in the past. The short story takes place in the past. The author wrote this story in 1948.

The main character is Laurie. He goes to kindergarten, and he tells lies to his parents about his unreal friend Charles. “It was Charles,” he said. “He was fresh. The teacher spanked him and made him stand in a corner. He was awfully fresh.” Charles is Laurie and Charles doesn’t do it. Laurie does it, but he chooses to tell lies. Maybe his parents act badly to him, so he tells lies. Maybe he has psychological problems, and his parents don’t realize that. Maybe his parents don’t show enough interest in him. There are many reasons why did Laurie tells lies. I can’t decide which one is true or false. Laurie is a flat character. He always tells lies, he doesn’t stop anytime. I think his mother is a round character because firstly she questions the behaviors of Charles. She says it to her husband. “Do you think kindergarten is too unsettling for Laurie? All this toughness, and bad grammar, and this Charles boy sounds like such a bad influence.” “It’ll be alright,” her husband says reassuringly. “Bound to be people like Charles in the world. Might as well meet them now as later.” After that, she acts more careless than before this part. His father is a flat character. He always acts careless. 

I think the most important event is Laurie’s mom finds out all of the truths. She learns them from Charles’s kindergarten teacher. It is the end of the story, so we don’t know what she does after she learns. I want to know Laurie’s mom's reaction. I want to know Laurie’s reaction to his mom’s reaction. The plot is believable. 

The speaker is Laurie’s mom in the short story. The story is written in the first person ‘I’ point of view. The author uses “I said.”, “ I asked.”. We can understand the author wrote this story in which point of view from these. 

I think there is an internal conflict. The conflict is between Laurie and his mind. I think he has psychological problems, and he tells lies. He can’t keep his mind control. I think it can be a conflict, but there is an external conflict too. If he is scared of his parents' behaviors, so he tells lies. There is an external conflict between Laurie and his parents. These can be conflicts, but one of them can be a conflict.

I think the climax is Laurie’s mom finds out all of the truths, all of the lies. There is a turning point at the end of the story. I think the story finishes at the turning point.  

I think one of the themes is when you tell lies, no matter what happens the truths come to light. Everybody finds out all of the truths. The other theme is when someone has psychological problems, you should show more interest in it. 

Entry 3: The Treasure of Lemon Brown

The short story is on a rainy evening at the home and the abandoned building. The setting is important because if there was not a rainy day, Greg didn’t go to the abandoned building because of the rainy day. Because of the time, there is dark and the abandoned building becomes frightened than the sunny morning. They have some interesting events. 

The main character is Greg. His father doesn’t want him to play basketball, he wants him to study. Greg walks in the street on a rainy evening and he goes to the abandoned building because of rain. He meets with Lemon Brown there. He is an old singer who someone called him Sweet Lemon Brown. In the text, Lemon Brown says “They used to say I sung the blues so sweet that if I sang at a funeral, the dead would commence to rocking with the beat.” He has a treasure. It is a harmonica, his son’s harmonica. Lemon Brown tries to feet his son and one day there was a letter in his home. The letter says his son killed in the war. This treasure is one of what left back from him. In the story, three people want to take this treasure from Lemon Brown and they try it. These characters are believable.

I think the most event is Lemon Brown tells the story of his treasure. The treasure is from his son. He has attention to this treasure. We can understand it from this part: “Him carrying it around with him like that told me it meant something to him. That was my treasure, and when I give it to him, he treated it just like that, a treasure.” The plot structured linearly. 

There is not a speaker in this story. The author doesn’t speak through the characters. The author wrote this story in the third person “he/she” point of view. The author uses “Greg said.”, “Lemon Brown said.”, “Greg asked.”. We can understand the author uses which point of view from this. 

I think there are 2 main conflicts. Greg has an internal conflict. In the text there is a paragraph about this internal conflict: “ ‘And you want to play basketball?’ His father’s brows knitted over deep-brown eyes. ‘That must be some kind of joke. Now you just get into your room and hit those books.’ (So, Greg wants to play basketball, but his bad grades are keeping him from it.)” His father doesn’t want him to play basketball, wants him to study, but Greg wants to play basketball. He should choose one of them. He can’t decide what he should choose. The other conflict is external. He goes to the abandoned building because of rain. After he meets with Lemon Brown in an abandoned building, he should escape to three people who want the treasure of Lemon Brown. 

There is a turning point in the story. Some people want to take the treasure of Lemon Brown and they come in the abandoned building. Greg and Lemon Brown hide from these three people. They are frightened because this building is dark and they don’t have any flashlights. The climax takes place in the middle of the story.

I think the theme is every treasure is not jewels, money, diamonds, etc. Someone can have a treasure that has sentimental value.

Entry 4: The Old Man at the Bridge

The short story is on the bridge. There is an old man at the bridge who comes from San Carlos. There is no information about the time, but we now he comes from San Carlos because of war. We can understand because of what from this dialog. “‘And you had to leave them?’ I asked. ‘Yes. Because of the artillery. The captain told me to go because of the artillery.’” That is to say in 1982 there was a battle in San Carlos. Maybe we think the time can 1982, but when I searched for when the story was written, Google says The Old Man at the Bridge was written in 1938. That is to say, the time can not 1982. 

The main character is a man who leaves from San Carlos because of war. We can understand he comes from where from this dialog."‘Where do you come from?’ I asked him. ‘From San Carlos,’ he said, and smiled.” The speaker says “An old man with steel rimmed spectacles and very dusty clothes sat by the side of the road.” We can understand that he is in a bad situation. Maybe he doesn’t want to leave San Carlos, because he doesn’t know his family is in where. The speaker tries to help him. The old man at the bridge sits on one side of the road for the animals. He says “I was taking care of animals.” These animals are special for the old man because these animals are the only thing he takes from San Carlos. He says the only thing he takes from San Carlos. She says “‘And you have no family?’ I asked, watching the far end of the bridge where a few last carts were hurrying down the slope of the bank. ‘No,’ he said, ‘only the animals I stated.’” The speaker tries a lot of time to convince him to doesn’t sit on one side of the road. The speaker says “‘This is not a good place to stop,’ I said. ‘If you can make it, there are trucks up the road where it forks for Tortosa.’”

I think the most important event is he says he just has these animals. He has no family where he is now. We can understand from this dialog “‘And you have no family?’ I asked, watching the far end of the bridge where a few last carts were hurrying down the slope of the bank. ‘No,’ he said.” I think family is the most important thing for us. If I don't have any family, I am more upset than when I have a family. I think he is more upset than when he has a family. The plot is believable.

The speaker is someone who tries to help an old man. The story is written in the first person “I” point of view. The speaker says “ I asked.”, “ I said.” There isn’t an all-knowing third person in the story.

I think there are 2 conflicts One of the conflicts is an internal conflict. I think the old man has an internal conflict. He comes from San Carlos, and in San Carlos, there is a battle. He leaves from San Carlos, and he has just the animals from San Carlos. He hasn’t any family, any home. He sits on one side of the road and waits for the animals. He takes care of animals. He says “I was only taking care of animals.” the other conflict is external. In San Carlos, there is a war and the war between the two countries. That is to say, I think these two countries have external conflict. They can’t compromise with each other. 

I think the climax is he says he is the last person who leaves from San Carlos. I think this is interest. He says “‘I stayed, you see, taking care of animals. I was the last one to leave the town of San Carlos.’” When I read this part of the story, I think it attracts interest. 

I think the theme is if your country is in a bad situation, and you must leave your country which you love, you may be in a bad situation in the other country. 

 Reflection:  Actually, I didn’t like verbal lessons, but in RC Literature lessons can be more fun. For example, in Literature lessons, we do group work, and studying with friends is more enjoyable than individual works. I think the fact that these lessons are fun makes the lessons more understandable and educational. I'm learning more information about how can be a good reader in RC literature.

When I started school, I was like a kite. Our teacher taught something to us, and these things sounded strange. I thought I can’t learn them. We learned a lot of things from our teacher like the story elements which I used in my portfolio. At the start of the first quarter, I didn’t good the analysis of the story elements. I was forgetting to give evidence from the text, and I couldn’t analysis. I just described what the author tells us. I just wrote the summary, but now I can do all of them. For example at the start of the first quarter, I didn’t know the difference between theme and topic. I was confusing them, but the time proceeded, I started to learn and understand. The topic is what the author tells us in the story. The theme is what do we learn from this story. For example, “Family” can be a topic. “Family is the most important thing in our lives.” can be a theme. It is just one example. For example climax in the story, elements are the turning point in the story. It changes everything or makes the readers more exciting about the story. In the story someone has disappeared or someone falls from the plane can be a climax, and if I analysis climax, I should provide evidence from the text. For example, if the climax is someone who has disappeared, I should write how does the author explain it. For example, maybe the author says, “When I turned my back, I couldn’t see Alisa. Where is she? The forest was quiet. “Alisa,” I shouted. The silence continued. I was scared of Alisa. She had disappeared. I continued to shout. “Alisa!” “Alisa where are you?” “If you hear my voices, please shout.” This part can be the climax of the story. I want to give one more example. In the story elements, there is a conflict. The conflict is the disagreement between the characters or something. For example, war is a conflict between the two countries or more. They disagree with each other. These examples were my most significant learning as a reader. 

While the time was progressing, and we got close to the middle of the first quarter. We did more practice to improve our reader response journals. We were improving our reader response journals, our thoughts. I can use more words in my reader response journals. That is to say, I can give more details in my reader response journals. When I read a book or a short story, I think the story elements of the story. I can be a good reader. If I improve my reading skills, I can be a good reader. I think the most important thing to be a good reader is you should read a book which takes your interest. That is to say, if we read a book takes our interest, we can focus easier and we can describe our thoughts easier. I was improving myself, but I felt like I missing something because while I read a book that may take my interest, I can’t focus on the book. 

As we approach the end of the first quarter, I understood why I can’t focus on the book. When I searched why I can’t, I found some recommendations on the net. The net said you should create a pleasant reading environment. I am a residential student, and I read the books and write reader response journals in our room, so I can’t focus because of noises. I decided to create an environment for reading. When I read my book or my story in a special environment, I can focus my book or my story and my reader response journal easily. 

Now, I finished writing my reader response journals portfolio with what I was learning in the first quarter. I realized this quarter added a lot of things to me while I wrote my reader response journals portfolio.

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