Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Infer Motives
Why did they do it? Get to the bottom of complex characters and people by analyzing their motivation. Learners select an action and take a close look at that action in order to infer motive. They then explain why they determined that...
2012 Teaching Resources
Analyzing Character Traits
Character analysis becomes easy with a 24-page packet packed with mini-lessons, graphic organizers, and activities. A must-have for your curriculum library.
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Infer Motive and Effects for an Action
Help your pupils determine just what makes a character or person tick by zooming in on one character or person. This graphic organizer is dedicated to analyzing one person and asks pupils to infer a personality trait, note down an action...
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Identify/Infer Motive
Why do people and characters act as they do? Require your class figure out the motivation of two people or characters they read about in a given text. In the short charts, pupils note down who, what they do, and why they do it. After...
Curated OER
What a Character!
Guide your readers to explore character traits. As a class, discuss and record the traits of a commonly-known fairy tale character. Then do the same with the main character in the class novel. Finally, have learners use magazines and...
Curated OER
Applying Character and Setting to Play Readings
Read Ira Sleeps Over, then identify elements of plays that are also common to books. Learners analyze character and setting, consider how these elements relate to a play, then write a one-paragraph skit using the characters from Ira...
Curated OER
Understanding Character
Readers practice character analysis by reviewing Gary Soto's short story "La Bamba" with the whole class (anything you've read together will work). They design t-shirts that feature traits and story elements to reveal the nature of a...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Intensities in the Classroom
Everyone learns and experiences life differently. A set of lessons about character intensities encourages middle and high schoolers to analyze themselves, their peers, and characters from a book based on the five listed intensities:...
Polk Bros Foundation
I Can Infer Predictions Based on an Analysis of Motive
Use a character or person's motivation as the basis for a prediction of that character or person's next action. Pupils select an individual from their reading, copy a quote, write down an inference about that character's motives, and...
Curated OER
A Boxful of Character
I can't wait to try this activity with my class. It's versatile and could be modified to fit any character analysis lesson. To analyze characters thoroughly, learners create life boxes. Each box will pertain to a character from any...
Curated OER
Columbus: Hero or Villain?
Students explore Christopher Columbus's motives. In this character education lesson, students research Internet and print sources regarding the life and actions of Christopher Columbus in order to write essays that his actions as the...
Orange County Department of Education
The Glass Slipper Shatters
High school freshmen craft their own definition of honesty. They provide an example from their lives and reflect on the outcomes of their honest behavior. They also identify a time when they may have been dishonest in a relationship and...
Curated OER
The Outsiders
Tenth graders complete a variety of activities related to the first two chapters of the book The Outsiders. They define metaphor, simile, idiom, and hyperbole, and take a vocabulary pre-quiz. In small groups, they write a character...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Identity Lesson 5: Motivation - Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs provides the lens class members use to analyze and evaluate the motivations of the characters in Sylvia Plath's "Initiation" and scenes from Mean Girls. Readers then select a character from A Separate...
Curated OER
How to Become Self Motivated
Learners demonstrate their self discipline and motivation by brainstorming their own personal self discipline goals. In this self discipline lesson, students analyze examples of self discipline and self control by completing a worksheet...
Curated OER
What a Character!
Young scholars look at the role of characters in a story. In this character lesson, students discuss how different types of characters change the plot of the story. They see how storytellers use their body, face, and voice to tell stories.
E Reading Worksheets
Character Traits and Motivations
Middle schoolers use this guided reading activity to identify the traits and motivations of characters in an assigned text.
EngageNY
Close Reading to Learn about Lyddie’s Character
Scholars work in pairs to analyze the characters, plot, and setting of Katherine Paterson's novel, Lyddie. Next, they apply what they learned about the characters' feelings and motivation to perform a mini reader's theater.
Curated OER
Shizuko’s Daughter: Discussion Web
Is Yuki a selfish character? Analyze her motivation and behavior during a unit on Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori. Readers fill out two sides of a graphic organizer with reasons why or why not she is selfish, and then come up with a...
Curated OER
Character Analysis
Students analyze the motivations behind characters. In this character analysis activity, students reflect on conflicts from previous stories and watch a clip from 'East is East.' Students answer questions for the movie and watch the...
Santa Ana Unified School District
Characters
Are your learners only talking about the plot of the story and not the richness of the characters? Then show them how important characters are to literature with the information available here. The learner will know how authors create...
Curated OER
Understanding Character
Students are introduced to literary elements and definitions in the worksheet Understanding Character but reading through each of the elements and definitions aloud. They read the story, "La Bamba" and identify examples of the literary...
Curated OER
The Cask of Amontillado
Learners examine the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Cask of Amontillado." In this character lesson, students discuss and analyze the characters in the story. Learners make personal connections to the characters and create a brochure...
Curated OER
The News Behind the Story
What a fun way to analyze plot, setting, and character. Learners review story elements, read a short fictional story, then turn the events of that story into a headlining news paper article. Not only does this lesson engage critical...