Hillock’s Level of Reader Response

1. Hillock’s Level of Reader Response Grades 6, 7, & 8

2. Literal or Explicit Responses – Level 1 Basic Stated Information (BSI); foundation facts or literal information taken directly from a story or piece of nonfiction.

3. Level 1 Example Basic Stated Information (BSI): • new names • places • important basic information In “Dragonfly Eyes” we can annotate two things: CharactersSetting - Drew, the shooter - school, present day - Savannah - Claire

4. Literal or Explicit Responses - Level 2 Key Details (KD); a fact that is crucial to the story. In other words, a key detail is a necessary detail for the story to make sense; without it the story would change.

5. Level 2 Examples Key Details (KD): • details you think are import to the story. • important clues you think a careless reader might miss. • details that, without them, would change the story. In “Dragonfly Eyes” we can annotate many key details: • Drew took two hostages. • Hostages are Savannah and Claire. • Savannah is popular and pretty. • Claire is simple. • Drew kills Savannah. • Drew wants to be famous.

6. Literal or Explicit Responses – Level 3 Stated relationships is a relationship in the story that is explicitly stated between characters, groups, events, and/or issues.

7. Level 3 Examples Stated Relationships (SR) identify the basic information about character relationships. In “Dragonfly Eyes” we can annotate many relationships: • Claire and Savannah were not friends. • Drew wants to remembered for being famous. • Savannah had many friends in her high school. • Claire was a nice person who up her time to help others.

8. To Review: Levels 1, 2, and 3 are very simple, factual, and obvious. Your annotations do not take much thinking on your part, they are not very deep in thought, you are simply stating the obvious.

9. Think and Search (Literal) Responses. Level 4 – Simple Implied Relationships (SIR) are the few key details that are close together in the text that have unstated connections.

10. Example of Level 4 Whenever you notice something new about how two or more things in the story interact you should jot it down. These moments help us connect to characters and situations in order to visualize what is happening in the story. In “Dragonfly Eyes” we can annotate many moments: • Life ending like a candle being snuffed out. • Savannah realizes that she can see the future. • Savannah realizes that she can connect with Drew’s body.

11. Think and Search (Literal) Responses. Level 5 - Complex Implied Relationships (CIR) is a cause and effect relationship between a large number of details that are spread across the text. This kind of thinking requires justification.

12. Example of Level 5 Complex implied relationships (CIR) note how any character in the story changes from beginning to end, how the setting relates to the plot, how the conflict influences the plot, and often evaluates how a character solves a problem. In “Dragonfly Eyes” we can annotate many moments: • Savannah changes the way she feels about herself. • Claire realizes everything she has done in her short life. • Drew’s determination to be famous invokes Savannah to change the outcome. • Savannah attempts to stop Drew by taking over his body.

13. Inferential or Implied Responses Level 6 – Authorial Generalizations (AG); are what we take away from the reading that we can apply

14. Example of Level