Book Report Exercise

By Joann Congdon, Grace Christian School

The Book Report Exercise teaches characterization, dialogue, and the creation of conflict for dramatic effect in a fictional narrative. It also gives students practice in using quotation marks and parenthetical references, and in creating a bibliography.

Students are asked to create a dialogue between the main character of a novel and themselves. A requirement of this dialogue is that it contain some kind of conflict between the student and the character in the novel.

These are the areas of focus:

• To reveal the main character’s thoughts, actions, responses to others, and appearance.
• To back up important ideas using quotations from the text.
• To practice the mechanics of parenthetical citation, quotation, and bibliography.

The rubric used in grading this exercise is posted below.

Rubric

Conflict in Dialogue Characterization Revealed       Thoughts        Actions        Response to Others        Appearance Quotes used Effectively Parenthetical usage Bibliographic Citation at End Mechanics Panache Total Out of 50 points

4    6 6 6 6 4 4 4 6 4

Joann Congdon teaches at Grace Christian School in Anchorage. She was recognized for her inspired teaching with a Community Recognition for Educational and Teaching Excellence Award by Anchorage Mayor Rick Mystrom.

  Student Example

Writing Workbook

Multiple Skill Levels

• Dictation Exercise
• Writing About Place
• The Dictionary Game
• Exercises in Discovering a Subject, Storytelling, and Nature Writing
• Masked Writers at Mat-Su Alternative School
• Writing a Letter to an Author
• Poetry Scavenger Hunt Exercise

Elementary

• Animal Body Exercise
• Books vs. Bytes Exercise
• Imaginary Zoos
• Creative Writing Exercise -- Anchorage Reads Program
• Newspapers in Education -- Writing About News Photos
• We Make Masks!
• Weavers of Words: Mask and Legend Exercise
• Writing Myths
• Write About a Pet
• Four Elementary Bilingual/ESL Exercises
• Creating a Newspaper Book Report

Middle School

• Important Things, Classroom Book Project
• Writing With Traits
• Newspapers in Education -- Middle School Writing

High School

• Creation Myth Writing Exercise
• Newspapers in Education -- High School Writing
• Justice and Freedom Exercise
• Exercises on Writing With Empathy
• War Poem Lesson Plan
• Cultural Adaptation of a Classic Play

Reading Workbook Index