One-Pager® Response to Reading

Due the Second Day of School in September

Directions:

1. Follow the prompt below.
2. Your One-Pager should be done on a plain white paper 8-1/2 x 11” on side only, with your name clearly in evidence on the front side of the paper.

 What is a One-Pager? 

“How do I know what I think until I see what I say?”-- E.M. Forster

 “Only connect.” – E.M. Forster

1. A one pager is a single-page response to your reading. It is a way of making your pattern of your unique understanding. It is a way to be creative and experimental. It is a way to respond imaginatively and honestly. It is a way to be brief and compressed.

2. The purpose of a one-pager is to own what you are reading. We learn best when we can create our own patterns.

3. A one-pager connects the verbal and the visual; it connects the ideas in what you read to your thoughts. It connects words and images. The one-pager becomes a metaphor for the reading you have done.

4. When you do a one-pager, do any or all of these:

   1. Pull out a quotation or two, using them to explore one of your own ideas, and write them on the page (perhaps using a different colored pen).

   2. Use visual images, either drawn or cut from magazines, to create a visual focus.

   3. Cluster around a dominant impression, feeling or thought you have while reading.

   4. Make a personal statement about what you have read.

   5. Ask a question or two and answer it (them).

   6. Create the one-pager so that your audience will understand something about the reading from what you do.

   7. Feel free to use colored pens or pencils.

5. What not to do:

   1. Don’t merely summarize.

   2. Don’t be restricted by the lines on the paper. Use unlined paper.

   3. Don’t think a half a page will do—make it rich with quotes and images.

6. Grading: full credit depends on completeness (and imagination counts, too.)