Annotating Literary Texts

The Benefits of Annotating Literary Texts

Annotating literary texts (books, poems, essays, short stories, etc.) transforms the traditional, often passive activity of reading and highlighting into an active, engaging process for students.  Teachers can build on simple tasks like underlining the main idea and circling unfamiliar words to encourage students to interact deeply with the text, fostering a personal connection and a more nuanced understanding of the material. 

By using Facing History prompts that encourage “talking with the text,” students develop not only critical thinking skills, but also engage emotionally and morally with the content. This strategy works well for short passages (see the Collaborative Annotation Variation below) as well as longer texts like short stories and book-length works of fiction or memoir.

By integrating intellectual rigor with moral curiosity and emotional engagement, this strategy—and its small group variation—can make the reading experience more meaningful and relevant for students, whether they are preparing for discussions, writing tasks, or simply reading on their own. From elevating moments in a text that reflect and validate students’ identities and experiences to identifying places where characters face moral choices that reveal something about human nature, Facing History’s annotation ideas for literary texts make literature feel more inviting and relevant to students, encouraging them to “talk with the text” as they read.

How to Annotate Literary Texts

Step 1: Pre-Work: Prepare for Annotating Literary Texts

• Choose Annotation Tasks to Help Students “Talk with the Text”
  Start by choosing 3–4 annotation task ideas from the list below. As students develop their annotation skills, you can assign them more annotation tasks or allow them to choose from the longer list. While we have suggested specific symbols, many students will have their own ideas for symbols that resonate with them. Unless annotations are being completed collaboratively, students should be free to choose their own symbols, creating a key so that they are consistent as they develop an annotation routine.
  • Underline: Underline “mirror moments,” places in the text where you see yourself and/or your experiences reflected in what a character is describing. For example, underline moments where you identify with a character’s emotions, background, choices, or decisions. 
  • Question Mark (?): Write a question mark in places where you feel confused, perhaps because you don’t understand a word or an aspect of the plot or because the author assumes you know something that you don’t know. Include questions for class discussion or future research. 
  • Emoji Emotion (😄): Draw an emoji by moments where you have a specific emotional response to the text. For example, places where you feel joyful, sad, angry, inspired, connected, or confused. Make the emoji relevant to the feeling (smiling, tears of joy, angry, surprised, etc.)
  • Exclamation Point (!):  Write an exclamation point by significant or powerful moments in the text. These might be places where something or someone has a big impact on a character, the plot, or a conflict. Or moments when you are surprised by a revelation or something that happens.
  • Heart (♥): Draw a heart by moments in the text that resonate with you, perhaps because of how they are written, because they make you think in new ways about life or the human condition, or because they move you in a powerful way. 
  • Not Equal Sign (≠): Write a “does not equal” sign by moments in the text that raise questions about right and wrong, fairness, and/or justice. Look for moments where characters face moral dilemmas, moments where you feel a character is treated unfairly by an individual, group, or society, and/or moments of individual or collective action around a social issue.
• Once you have determined what students will annotate for, decide how you will share that information with them. You might create a student annotation handout or add the tasks and symbols to the top of a reading. If students are reading school-owned books, you will need to supply sticky notes for their annotations and marginalia so they aren’t writing in their books.

Step 2: Model Annotating Literary Texts with a Think Aloud

• When first introducing Annotating Literary Texts to students, use the Think Aloud strategy to model the process with a short text, such as the opening paragraphs of a short story or chapter. Project two paragraphs and, as you read aloud, add annotations on the board. Make your thinking visible by explaining your reactions and annotation choices as you go. Include brief notes in the margins—insights, questions, thoughts, and comments—as needed. It is important not to over-annotate when you model the strategy. Nothing dampens a love of reading like pressure to pause every few words to make a note. Try to demonstrate what it looks and feels like to be in conversation with a text, using symbols and words or short phrases to note key ideas, insights, connections, and questions.
• Then have students read and annotate the next 1–2 paragraphs on their own and debrief in pairs. Invite student volunteers to the board to “think aloud” with one or more of their annotation choices for this section of the text. 
• Proceed with reading and annotating the text as per your lesson plan. For students new to annotation, consider collecting their papers to quickly assess if you need to reteach the skill to the class or a small group of students.

Step 3: Use Annotations for a Head, Heart, Conscience Reflection

In their journals or on an exit ticket that you collect, have students use their annotations to guide their responses to the following prompts. Consider allowing students to choose one prompt from each category so that they have agency over what they write.

• Head: 
  • Summarize the main ideas presented in the text. 
  • Record a “notable quotable,” a short quotation that resonates with you or that you want to remember. Explain why you chose it.
  • Highlight areas of confusion or curiosity. Jot down questions that the text raises for further exploration or discussion.
• Heart: 
  • Describe your emotional reaction to the text. Did it make you feel joyful, sad, angry, inspired, connected, confused, or something else? Explain why.
  • Identify one or more parts of the text that had a significant impact on you. Explain why these parts resonated with you.
• Conscience: 
  • Write down any questions about right or wrong, fairness or injustice, that this text raises for you. What do you think the author wants you to think or feel about these questions and why?
  • Note any moral dilemmas presented in the text. Reflect on how these dilemmas challenge or affirm your ideas about justice and fairness, both in the text and in real life.

Explore more ways to use the head, heart, conscience framework to prompt reflection on complex and emotional topics.