A rubric in student language written for middle and high school students to self-assess diaries and letters written from the perspective of a literary character.
A rubric in student language written for middle and high school students to self-assess diaries and letters written from the perspective of a literary character.
Short video explaining how to develop character profiles.
This resource was created by Jennifer Trenhaile, in collaboration with Dawn DeTurk, Hannah Blomstedt, and Julie Albrecht, as part of ESU2's Integrating the Arts project. This project is a four year initiative focused on integrating arts into the core curriculum through teacher education, practice, and coaching.
This lesson is used in conjunction with a novel or a short story. It begins with students looking at their own physical and behavioral traits and progresses to where they can identify the roles as well as the physical and behavioral traits in characters that they are reading about. There is a profile sheet provided to help the students separate, identify and provide evidence for their reasoning as well as an example of a completed one.
Students will analyze the character traits of the main characters in a given novel by filling out a character web and citing textual evidence.
The attached Lesson Plan is designed for Third Grade English Language Arts students. Students will determine character traits and provide supporting evidence from the text. They will also identify and explain why authors use literary devices, specifically similes, in their writing. This Lesson Plan addresses the following NDE Standard: NE LA 3.1.6.b and NE LA 3.1.6.c.It is expected that this Lesson Plan will take students 2- 30-40 minute sessions to complete.
Readers, young and old, can learn about themselves by vicariously facing the conflicts, disappointments and triumphs lived out by the fascinating characters they encounter in literature. Shakespeare’s plays remain popular because they so evocatively and powerfully portray our human experience, as we live it today. That exposure to this mysterious, dynamic quality of life that allows us bravely to face conflicts and creatively learn from our mistakes is one of the most important lessons that we need to begin to teach our children.
Through the use of select children’s books and simplified versions of the well-known ‘three caskets scenes’ in the play, The Merchant of Venice, students will gain a familiarity with its fairy-tale-like storyline. The focus will be on the challenge that Portia’s suitors face in the context of this moral trial during which the suitors will have the rare opportunity to look beyond mere appearances in making their choices. But will they take a risk and do that? In these scenes we will look at how the choice of each of the suitors reflects his own character and decides his ultimate destiny.
This lesson, designed for middle level, goes into further detail about narrative characters and what characterization is. The lesson connects to Cornell notes along with discussion questions that students complete while watching in order to prepare for class the next day
Students will review characterization types (direct, indirect, static, dynamic) as they create
The list of ten things about Opal's absent mother that her father shares in "Because of Winn-Dixie" serves as inspiration for students to create their own lists describing literary characters.
This resource is a video reading "A Tale of Two Cities" Book 2, Chapter 19. Throughout the presentation there are explanations for difficult vocabulary.
Charlotte Temple was the most popular work of fiction in the antebellum United States, and, even after it was supplanted by books like Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), Charlotte Temple continued to be widely read in America throughout the nineteenth century. Remarkably, many contemporary readers believed this to be a true story, rather than a novel. Or, perhaps better, they enjoyed thinking that Rowson’s story might true, or contained within it the essence of some kind of moral truth, even if at some level they recognized that it was unlikely to be a documentary record of actual events. So strong was this desire to believe in the truth of Charlotte’s sad tale that at some point in the middle of the nineteenth century, a grave stone bearing the name “Charlotte Temple” was laid in the graveyard of New York City’s Trinity Church. It became a tourist destination and a kind of pilgrimage site for the novel’s many fans. In 1903, a man wrote in to the New York Post with his childhood memory of the site: “When I was a boy the story of Charlotte Temple was familiar in the household of every New Yorker. The first tears I ever saw in the eyes of a grown person were shed for her. In that churchyard are graves of heroes, philosophers, and martyrs, whose names are familiar to the youngest scholar, and whose memory is dear to the wisest and best. Their graves, tho marked by imposing monuments, win but a glance of curiosity, while the turf over Charlotte Temple is kept fresh by falling tears.”
Students find examples of adjectives in a shared reading. Then students "become" major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using powerful adjectives.
Character Perspective Charting allows students to compare multiple characters and their points of view to better understand a story.
The essay is divided into Fantastic Philologies and Strange Structures to focus on certain elements of style at a time. The goal of all this, essaying business, is to develop a foundation upon which a fantastic mode, or a style guide, or something, may be built. While the writing beyond is analyzing the literary characteristics of the texts, my goal is to formulate a more developed theory on creating works with high literary value. Fantastic Philologies formulates a way to apply an extremely academic concept to an extremely fantastic foundation of a certain genre. Strange Structures ties in the literary techniques of Weird fantastic fiction. This overall creates a suite of options for analyzing the literary value of a piece of Fantasy.
Partner reading is a great structure that allows students to practice their fluency and listening skills. Student discussion during and after their reading can strengthen their understanding and make the parter reading experience more productive. However, it can be challenging to get your students to talk about the text in meaningful way. This check for understanding comprehension bookmark can help! This resource is designed to be shared between partners. Simply have students put the bookmark between them when reading and take turns using the "partner a" and "partner b" sentences. Students can choose a skill to practice after each page or after each section of text, the choice is yours. You could have students focus on a different skill each day or have them practice each skill at least once during their reading. There are many options when using the bookmark, bottom line is it will get your students talking about the text in a meaningful way.
In this one lesson, students are able to evaluate a news report, using their prior knowledge and instints, learn about the CRAAP method of website credibilty evaluation, and practice using the CRAAP method on a variety of websites.
This document lists guiding questions and considerations for K-12 educators in creating Common Core-aligned exemplars that focus on the ELA literacy standards across disciplines.
Cover sheet and picture for checklists and checklist bulletin board.