Reading Response
Sample #1

The term Geography comes from the Greek word meaning “writing about,” or “describing,” the earth. Geography is the study of where people, places, and things are located and of the ways in which things relate to each other. There are five themes of geography: location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and regions. The absolute location of a place is its position on the globe. The Equator is the line that circles the globe halfway between the North and South poles. The equator divides the world into two hemispheres. Imaginary lines that run parallel to the Equator are called lines of latitude. Another set of imaginary lines are lines of longitude, or medians, which run north and south between the poles. The second way to find where a place is located is by describing relative location—where it is located in relation to other places. Places have physical and human characteristics. Humans have made enormous changes in their environment. Because places have different characteristics, it follows that people, goods, and ideas will move between them. A region is a group of places with at least one common characteristic. There are formal regions and functional regions.

POSITIVE
• Length
• Spelling/Mechanics
• Paragraph Form

NEGATIVE
• Plagiarized
• Summary...not a Response
• No flow...jumps from one idea to another without connective thoughts
• No explanations were given when points were made—no examples or supporting statements

Reading Response
Sample #2

There are five themes in geography, which is pretty cool. I like geography cuz we learn about people and places. One time I had a map in my room and I liked to look at it. I think Americans should study maps more. We learned about latitude and longitude in fourth grade, but I always get them mixed up b/c sometimes I am SSINF. Human-environment interaction in my favorite theme. The book talked about Mexico and I love Mexican food. It also talked about Chinatown in San Francisco. I have been there b4 and it is weird. There are five themes in geography, which is pretty cool.

POSITIVE
• Displayed a personal connection to the reading

NEGATIVE
• Length
• Abbreviations
• No flow
• No information
• Personal connections were immature
• No explanations were given when points were made—no examples or supporting statements

Reading Response
Sample #3

There is so much more to geography than the definition. The text defines geography as, “the study of where people, places, and things are located and of the ways in which things relate to each other.” However, the five themes reveal the different ways we can study the world and the people who occupy it. The