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.
EngageNY
Analyzing Character: Understanding Atticus (Chapter 1, cont.)
Scholars use a Note-catcher to gather text evidence to reveal the character of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. After collecting evidence, they work with a partner to make an inference about the character and then share their...
Bright Hub Education
"The Kid in the Red Jacket": Book Activities
Learning stations aren't just for little ones; middle schoolers can have fun while learning about the main character in the book, The Kid in the Red Jacket. Outlined are three different activities that are completed as each small group...
Curated OER
Pioneering Principles: Why Character Matters
What does it mean to "be of good character"? What are the qualities that define such a person? The 1825 Colonization Law of Coahuila y Texas required that all new immigrants into Mexican Texas present documentation that they were of good...
Curated OER
Character Attributes in Writing
Third graders analyze the importance of characters in fiction writing and performances. For this theatre lesson, 3rd graders identify the important characteristics of a fictional character and how to portray a character through many...
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
Building Character: Holocaust Survivor Testimonies
Host a fishbowl discussion to help your class recognize and articulate the relationship between words and the character traits they describe. They analyze Holocaust survivor testimonies and apply the character traits they observe. No...
EngageNY
Analyzing Character and Theme: Tracking Control in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Pupils first participate in a drama circle as they continue reading Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream aloud with classmates. Next, scholars move around and discuss text-dependent questions about the play with a Three Threes in a...
EngageNY
Analyzing Events: Carlotta’s Journey
How does one talk silently? Class members participate in a silent communication activity known as a Chalk Talk. During the activity, they answer text-dependent questions analyzing Carlotta’s Journey. They use markers and chart paper to...
Literacy Design Collaborative
"New American Characters" - Analyzing the Impact of Cultural Change in "The Great Gatsby"
Learners annotate text from The Great Gatsby before working through a character development map. They then use text evidence in a final essay to describe the connection between central ideas and character development.
Literacy Design Collaborative
Identifying Points of View through Character Responses in R.J. Palacio's "Wonder"
Readers examine the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio to determine how characters respond differently to situations and events. Readers annotate and analyze the text and carry out group discussion using accountable talk. They work in small...
West Virginia Department of Education
Intelligence of Authentic Character - News Coverage and John Brown's Raid
The resource, a standalone, shows how news coverage of John Brown's Raid began when the event happened and how that reporting shaped perception in West Virginia history. The resource includes interesting anticipatory discussion...
Curated OER
Character Analysis and The Crucible
Readers of The Crucible use a SATDO chart to collect evidence they will use to craft interpretive statements and an analysis of one of Miller’s characters. Background information on the play and about Miller, links to handouts,...
Creative Competitions, Inc.
Odyssey of the Mind Curriculum Activity: Fantastic Fairy Tale
Learning about literature can be so much fun; it can also be made more accessible through projects and dramatic play. As they explore theme, character, and setting, the class gets creative and makes a dramatic recreation of a classic...
Missouri Department of Elementary
Character Clovers
Build a classroom community with a lesson that uses character clovers to examine scholars' roles. Following a whole-class discussion, participants list four roles they play and accompany it with the character traits that go along with it.
Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
A 16-page packet includes three activities for a unit study of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Before beginning the novel, class members identify the factors in their lives that helped create their frame of reference,...
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...
Curated OER
Character Traits
Using a three-column chart labeled "Character," "Action," and "Trait," pupils analyze the traits of several characters from a short story. The lesson is designed for a SMART board, but a teacher could easily do the lesson without the...
Curated OER
Analyzing Literature via Literature Circles
Introduce literature circles with Roland Smith's novels. Your seventh graders will see the activity modeled as you read The Three Little Pigs together and apply the format to a Roland Smith novel of their choice. The lesson includes...
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:...
Curated OER
Character in a Box
Partners choose, research, and analyze fictional or historical characters and design character life boxes to represent them. They also compose a rhyme royal, which they understand inductively by deconstructing examples. Based largely on...
Curated OER
Parrot in the Oven: Letter to a Character
Readers of Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida place themselves in the story and craft a persuasive letter to a character in Victor Martinez's National Book Award-winning novel.
EngageNY
World Café to Analyze Theme and Character in A Long Walk to Water (Chapters 16–18)
Here comes a surprise ending! Readers discuss their thoughts about the ending of A Long Walk to Water by answering probing questions. They participate in a World Café where they work in triads to complete a chart and a prompt during...
Curated OER
Analyzing Character Traits
Young scholars read "Frog and Toad are Friends" and investigate physical, emotional, and mental character traits. They brainstorm a list of character traits that make a good friend. The list is placed into a visual ranking system that...