This article introduces effective ways in which students can organize their thoughts, ideas and understandings about what they are reading. The double-entry diary helps students keep track of important information found in the text and their understanding of the text. I think this is a great way to help students make connections with the text and truly understand what they are reading. Students are also required to individually do further research on a specific pirate and record their findings on a DRC (data retrieval chart). Student use a DRC to help organize information obtained from the various texts they read, this helps with students reading comprehension as well.
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From reading that article and your post, I have come to think that the more children are shown how (at a young age) to oraganize their thoughts about what they are reading the more successful they will be as they begin to read harder material.