Dialectic Notebooks

Teaching my student how to speak with books.

Photo by Thomas Martinsen on Unsplash

I remember the first time I read Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. I purchased the Bantam Classic 1892 Edition after watching Dead Poets Society for the first time. I remember being mesmerized by the film. In fact, I still get goosebumps every time I watch the scene when Mr. Keating, played by the incomparable Robin Williams, huddles his class of boys around him and emotes the virtues of reading and writing poetry. Poetry isn’t cute. Poetry sustains humanity. There are plenty of careers that sustain life, but poetry is what we stay alive for.

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, “O me! O life!… of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless… of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?” “Answer. That you are here — that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.” That the powerful play *goes on* and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”

— John Keating (Robin Williams), Dead Poets Society

I sat uncomfortably underneath an oak tree; its roots snaking out from the ground. I remember adjusting and readjusting my seat so that I could read a little of Whitman’s poetry during my lunch break from student teaching. It was a warm Spring day and the trunk of the oak scratched my back while I tried to settle myself to read.

Uncle Walt, the sweaty-toothed madman, had me hooked! I stopped feeling the hard ground and rough oak trunk as I fell into reading Song of Myself. I never knew a poem could be so long and circuitous. I had so many questions. What’s a barbaric yawp? How can the dead and the living tend inward to me, and I outward to them? What is the stuff that is course and the stuff that is fine? How can a work of stars be in a leaf of grass?

I desperately wanted to speak with Whitman. I wanted to connect with him over a meal and ask, am I really enough? I wasn’t yet a teacher; my entire world underneath my boot-soles, just waiting to be trodden upon. I wanted to crouch near him, salute the sun, and ask what he thought my verse should be in this life.

Since that afternoon, I have always treated books as conversations with their authors. After I read Song of Myself, I wrote down question in the margins of texts, highlighting different passages I wanted to share with my (now) father-in-law, (then my girlfriend’s dad). When I visited, he would pull out his copy of Leaves of Grass and ask me what I thought of a particular stanza. I didn’t have a word for it then, but I marvelled at his marginalia: sloppy scribbles and underlined sentences. These teenage memories are really my first as a reader of literature. I decoded (badly) for school, but I read for Mike.

I’ve collected a few copies of Leaves of Grass, including Mike’s Viking Compass Edition

Years later, I learned about the concept of teaching students to annotate texts. I always considered marking up my books as a private practice, one that helps me feel connected to the writer. When I underline or write in the margins, I am reaching across an invisible Rubicon, searching for an impossible connection with a distant writer. With every question, I am growing as a reader.

Years later in my classroom, I encouraged my students to interact with the books we read. The term Dialectic means “discussion and reasoning by dialogue as a method of intellectual investigation.” I’ve heard some describe it as a logical discussion of ideas and opinions. The term was new to me, but the act of recording our annotations made sense considering that students are never allowed to write in school library books.

I started using sticky notes, teaching students to record their Depth and Complexity Icons, page numbers, and annotations. This worked for a few years, but referencing older notes became cumbersome as students flipped through their books looking for a particular annotation. When I wanted to collect their thinking, I designed all sorts of graphic organizers that allowed students to turn in their sticky notes, but that was a disaster as I tried to carry home 30 students times 15 sticky notes per student.

An old Jamboard I used for students to share their sticky-notes annotations.

Last school year, I decided to forgo technology and use reading journals for our book clubs. I modeled annotating our class novel using Depth and Complexity Icons and then recorded them in my reading notebook for future book club discussions. The note-taking structure, with a vocabulary note-catcher and journaling prompts was more successful using sticky notes. Students participated more in class and had deeper, more thoughtful discussions because their annotations were easily accessible.

This year, I have decided to embrace the notebook and have students create Dialectical Journals. I told my students to think of their Dialectical Journal as a series of conversations with the texts we read throughout the school year. The process is meant to help them develop a better understanding of the texts we read, and incorporate their personal responses to the texts and their ideas about themes we discuss in class. I told students that these journals will be a useful way to to process what we are reading, prepare them for group discussions, and help them gather textual evidence for analysis. They took some time to set up and we had to go slow, only reading one story during the week, but the results (and our classroom discussions) were incredible!

I’ve also decided to finally get rid of the traditional Reading Log (book, page numbers, summary, etc.), instead, having students reflect more thoughtfully.

Marcus Luther

uses a Two-Week Reading Reflection that I’ve adapted for my fifth-graders as a weekly Reading Reflection. Instead of just summarizing what they read each week, students are now reflecting on what they are learning and how they are connecting to their books. They are also reflecting on the experience of reading, which helps me conference with students and set reading experience goals for the week.

My goal is to also have students reflect in Dialectic Journals in other content areas. I’m not quite sure what these will look like in Science and Social Studies, but I’m really enjoying consolidating our mathematical thinking in our Thinking Classroom. Based on Peter Liljedah’s research, less than 20% of students actually look back at their math notes, and while students are taking notes, the majority are so disengaged that there is no solidifying of learning. Liljedahl advocates for a more mindful approach to note-taking where students decide for themselves what notes their future selves will need. I have all of my tests open-note, and I’ve noticed that students are more invested in keeping their notes up-to-date and filled with their thinking.

How will this Dialectical Notebooks learning experiment go? I don’t know. I do know that in the first month of school, I’ve had one of the most lively classroom discussions in my career. Can I attribute that solely to the annotations and dialectic notebooks? Probably not. Jason Reynolds’ Eraser Tattoo, is an incredible short story and I believe that the quality of literature has a direct effect on the quality of discussion. I don’t remember having such deep discussion from any basal reader.

In the meantime, I will keep finding great stories to read, and we will keep annotating and discussing as a classroom community. Who knows? Maybe we will read a story and a student will make a connection or ask a question that will eventually lead them to contribute a verse in this powerful play called life. I sure hope so.

Have a great week!

—Adrian

My marginalia from one of the best opening chapters in YA literature.

Resources

Center for Depth and Complexity Icons

• This is where I’ve learned the most about Depth and Complexity Icons. There is a wealth of resources and information.

• Teacher Ian Byrd has some great videos for teaching Depth and Complexity icons to his students. I’ve used his framing activity every year to introduce DCI to my students.

Introduction to the Iconic Prompts for Depth & Complexity

• This PowerPoint presentation from the Sacramento City Unified School District does an excellent job of explaining each icon and giving examples from different content areas. Plus, there are some really great student examples at the end.

How to Keep a Dialectical Journal

• I love the So What? column of this note-catcher.

Book Annotating/Sticky Notes

• I’m not sure where I found this, but I’ve modified it for my Elementary classroom. I may not use sticky notes as much any more, but I do like the sticky note guide.

Collaborative Annotation Chart (Modified with Depth and Complexity Icons)

• I found this helpful when having students to collaborative annotations in book clubs. They can record a few of their annotations to turn in and I don’t have to take home everyone’s Reading Notebooks.

How to Annotate Text, Annotations, Sticky Note Method Handout with Bookmark

• When I first started teaching close reading skills, I used this simple sticky-note procedure. It comes with a bookmark for student to reference while reading.