Lesson #2 - What should your blog post look like?

This post is for all students... but especially students who are struggling with how to

structure a basic blog post or relying too much on retell or writing a book review.

Please remember that your blog is a place for you to RESPOND to your reading, not

to retell the plot or to merely "review" it.  I want to know where your mind wanders

while you are reading or after you put the book down.  If you don't naturally do this,

the discipline of having to write a response weekly will help you practice.

Paragraph One: Hook your reader in with an enticing lead.  Give the reader a few

sentences of context (character, setting, conflict, theme) so he or she has the basic

idea of what is going on.  Let your reader know why you have chosen this book.

Paragraph Two: Introduce your THEORY, or your idea about what the book is 

actually about. What is the true meaning of this book to you?  Your theory can

be about any macro idea or micro detail that is interesting to you. Then, UNPACK 

your theory...which means you can elaborate on why you believe it or how you came to it, 

to begin with. You can use textual evidence to unpack your theory.  Reveal the theme of 

the story as well.

Paragraph Three: CONNECT your theory to the world outside of the story.  What

does the author want you to know, feel or think?  Can you relate to it at all? What does

this story have to say about the world or people?

I will also be looking for you to be writing about a different book in this blog post, unless 

you have been approved otherwise.  

I will also be looking for at least two words from our prefix tree lists (pre- or co-).