The metaphor of a pot of soup and a series of colorful templates remind young writers of the elements that make for a rich story. Pepper the plot with carrot/character, potato/point of view, corn/conflict, tomato/theme, and season with...

Students draw pictures to generate ideas about a character. They use prewriting skills to plan written work. They then dictate or write detailed descriptions of familiar person, places, objects, or experiences.

Students garner knowledge of characterization of the pilgrims in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and see that even the less savory characters must be flushed out in description of personality and physical traits.

In this Romeo and Juliet worksheet, students create a MySpace website as a characterization analysis for the play Romeo and Juliet. Students complete a characterization sheet for the activity.

Students read the book Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. In this character traits lesson, students read the book and identify character traits. Students draw pictures of a character from the book and describe the character traits.

Middle schoolers read a novel and discuss character personality. First, they analyze a character in a novel and keep a chart or web of the character's identity, which includes specific examples from the book. They then write a script...

Class groups assume the identity of one of the primary human characters in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They create a body biography that identifies the most important traits of their character, translate these traits into...

To better comprehend the novel, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, learners define 3 vocabulary words, define 1 literary term, and respond to 10 short-answer questions. This resource refers only to Chapter 13 of the book. 

Provide this packet for your pupils as they pour over The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. The study guide includes graphic organziers and comprehension as well as higher-level questions. Class members briefly summarize each chapter, compare...

Invite your pupils to express their understanding of a novel through a collaborative video project. Groups choose a novel from those you have studied in class, select four scenes, storyboard the scenes, film the scenes, edit the film,...

What would the characters of Pride and Prejudice say to each other in a letter? Draft unsent correspondence between characters from Jane Austen's novel. A great way to explore characterization and plot structure in a creative lesson.

To demonstrate their understanding of characterization in The Winter's Tale, groups create a Facebook profile for one of the characters in Shakespeare's play.

Chapter-by-chapter worksheets ask readers to find specific examples of characterization, symbolism, setting, conflict, themes, and main ideas in William Golding's Lord of the Flies. Also included in the packet is an assignment sheet that...

Readers learn how to use both direct and indirect characterization clues provided by Charles Dickens to understand the complexity of Ebenezer Scrooge's character. Scholars collect evidence of comments Scrooge hears, how he responds to...

Round, flat, static, dynamic. As part of a characterization study, scholars review the different types of characters and create a slide show demonstrating how a dynamic character in a story they have read changes throughout the tale.

Does identity come from within, or do external forces shape it? Explore the complex identity concept with a two-unit module for 12th-grade language arts. The first unit uses A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and "A Daily Joy...

Young grammarians review the proper usage of colons and semicolons in writing. Given a list of sentences, they determine which are direct characterizations and which are indirect characterizations. They also decide where the punctuation...

Oskar Schell's narrative about his expedition to find out more about his father serves as a model for writers who are crafting their own narratives. Class members choose two characters from the novel and collect examples of the methods...

Does the size of a sample change the physical properties of that substance? It turns out it can! Young scientists combine physics and chemistry to synthesize CdSe quantum dots and record their color properties. Learners should...

Learn transformations through constructions! Pupils use perpendicular bisectors to understand the movement of a reflection and rotation. They discover that the perpendicular bisector(s) determine the line of reflection and the...

Explore literary devices and figurative language using higher level examples. The 33 slides here define common types of figurative language (like simile, metaphor, personification, etc.), and then focus on specific examples in...

Character analysis is a skill we use when we read literary works or want to write a good story. Learners will use drama to practice character analysis while focusing on the details that make characters act the way they do. They'll each...

"I wisht somebody'd shoot me if I got old an' a cripple." Young readers examine one of the ways Steinbeck brings his characters to life by closely examining what characters say and imaging why Steinbeck choose...

"What is George upset about? Check all that apply." Here's a worksheet that asks readers to delve more deeply into character attitudes and motivations. In addition, Part II asks individuals to record passages from that text that capture...