Students must "become" a character in a novel in order to describe themselves and other characters using powerful adjectives.
Through a close reading of "Amelia Bedelia", students reread the material to discuss text-dependent questions, promoting deep thinking about the text and its characters.
Groups of students read and discuss American folklore stories, each group reading a different story. Using a jigsaw strategy, the groups compare character traits and main plot points of the stories. A diverse selection of American folk tales is used for this lesson, which is adaptable to any text set.
Students create epitaphs for characters from a tragedy, such as "Hamlet".
Family Tree (art and character studies)
Children have many family members and pets and friends who are “honorary” family. Have students discuss their family and describe how they look. This project can hold lots of different people. The child needs to put themselves at the top of the tree.
This lesson can also be used for character or historical figures studies.
Students "become" one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using lists of accurate, powerful adjectives.
This is an intermediate workshop designed for students who have a basic understanding of the principles of theatrical design and who want a more intensive study of costume design and the psychology of clothing. Students develop designs that emerge through a process of character analysis, based on the script and directorial concept. Period research, design, and rendering skills are fostered through practical exercises. Instruction in basic costume construction, including drafting and draping, provide tools for students to produce final projects.
Students attend a 19th Century Victorian party to celebrate Scrooge's new outlook on life. They research characters from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and assume those personas for the party.
Students write a persuasive letter to the editor of a newspaper from a selected fictional character's perspective, focusing on a specific issue or situation explored in the novel.
Students respond to a book they have read by thinking symbolically to create a business card for one of the characters.
In this alternative to the traditional book report, students respond to a play they have read by creating a resume for one of its characters.
Students explore familiar literary characters, usually first encountered as adults, but whose childhood stories are only told later. Students then create childhoods for adult characters from books of their choice.
In this alternative to the traditional book report, students report on their novel choices using Facebook-like pages.
Students write resumes for historical fiction characters. They first explore help wanted ads to see what employers want, and then draft resumes for the characters they've chosen.
In this author study, students listen to and discuss four books by Leo Lionni. They identify similarities and differences in the stories and then compare two stories of their choice.
Students will analyze the character traits of the main characters in a given novel by filling out a character web and citing textual evidence.
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.
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.