Text-to-self is an effective way for students to comprehend a particular part of a text or the entire piece of text itself. Teachers can use specific questions to engage readers in a text-to-self response, students may be asked to respond to a certain quote or students may be prompted to free-write about the feelings they are having after reading a novel or throughout various points in reading the novel.
Below is a free write I completed after reading both Night and The Book Thief:
How often we hear of the horrors of the Holocaust, how often do we forget that real people experienced these tragic events. Reading through both novels, I felt a terrible sense of sadness. How could humans do this to other humans? Better yet, how do you humans still do these acts of injustice to this day? I think of the terrorist attacks, the situation in Somalia and the countless other conflicts happening around the globe. A lot of questions race to my mind when I am reading texts that specifically dedicate themselves’ to telling the perspective of the mistreated, or from perspectives we often forget. A perspective from an individual boy having to experience the horrors of a concentration camp makes reading the novel more spell-binding. Placing yourself in the author’s shoes as an adult is beyond comprehension; having to think of the perspective of a child in that situation makes my stomach tie itself in a jumble of knots. Flipping to a child’s perspective on the side of power during the Holocaust is an interesting comparison to a child within the concentration camps. Inhumanity is felt by both child main characters and both are restricted to change the inhumanity in ways that they see fit. What is remarkable to me is that the children characters in both novels are not afraid to voice their disapproval of what is happening in their world. Yet, the adults keep their lips shut and move around in fear. I think the argument “children should run the world” has a strong argument within these two texts. I struggled while reading the texts, feeling the frustrations of what was happening to characters I grew to love and connect with. However, I think to myself if I am grappling with reading about the events I must turn this inwards and ask myself, if I am struggling with a novel study, what on earth must those who lived and experienced these acts have been “grappling” and “struggling” with.
Below is a free write I completed after reading both Night and The Book Thief:
How often we hear of the horrors of the Holocaust, how often do we forget that real people experienced these tragic events. Reading through both novels, I felt a terrible sense of sadness. How could humans do this to other humans? Better yet, how do you humans still do these acts of injustice to this day? I think of the terrorist attacks, the situation in Somalia and the countless other conflicts happening around the globe. A lot of questions race to my mind when I am reading texts that specifically dedicate themselves’ to telling the perspective of the mistreated, or from perspectives we often forget. A perspective from an individual boy having to experience the horrors of a concentration camp makes reading the novel more spell-binding. Placing yourself in the author’s shoes as an adult is beyond comprehension; having to think of the perspective of a child in that situation makes my stomach tie itself in a jumble of knots. Flipping to a child’s perspective on the side of power during the Holocaust is an interesting comparison to a child within the concentration camps. Inhumanity is felt by both child main characters and both are restricted to change the inhumanity in ways that they see fit. What is remarkable to me is that the children characters in both novels are not afraid to voice their disapproval of what is happening in their world. Yet, the adults keep their lips shut and move around in fear. I think the argument “children should run the world” has a strong argument within these two texts. I struggled while reading the texts, feeling the frustrations of what was happening to characters I grew to love and connect with. However, I think to myself if I am grappling with reading about the events I must turn this inwards and ask myself, if I am struggling with a novel study, what on earth must those who lived and experienced these acts have been “grappling” and “struggling” with.