Curated OER
Unsent Letter: Characterization in Briar Rose
After completing Jane Yolen’s Briar Rose, class members assume the voice of Gemma and craft a personal letter to her granddaughter telling Becca how she feels about Becca’s actions and the discoveries at Chelmno. Complete directions for...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Characterization in Lord of the Flies
Readers of Lord of the Flies hunt down direct and indirect examples of how William Golding brings his characters to life. After instructors guide learners through the process of collecting evidence of these two types of characterization...
Curated OER
Indirect-Direct Characterization Lesson Plan
Ninth graders are introduced to direct and indirect characterization. In groups, they find examples of both in various pieces of literature. They are given an adjective and make a display in which they use the adjective indirectly. To...
Curated OER
Characterizations: Indirect and Direct
Connect literature to narrative writing by researching descriptive writing techniques. Elementary and middle schoolers identify the importance of a narrator and voice in the storytelling process. They read writing samples and identify...
Curated OER
Semicolons and Commas Review
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...
K20 LEARN
More than Meets the Eye: Direct and Indirect Characterization
Willy Wonka takes center stage in a lesson about direct and indirect characterization. Scholars read a passage from the story about Wonka's Grand Entrance and watch a film clip of the same, noting examples of direct and indirect...
Curated OER
Comprehension-Characters/characterization
Fifth graders discuss characterization as well as to define antagonist and protagonist. In this language arts lesson, 5th graders write questions for an interview of a character in the book "The Three Little Pigs" and then answer them....
Novelinks
The Hobbit: Directed Reading - Thinking Activity
An in-class reading of Shel Silverstein's The Missing Piece Meets the Big O introduces class members to the journey motif that forms the basis of The Hobbit.
Curated OER
Body Biography: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
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...
Curated OER
Dear Abby: A Direct and Indirect Characterization Lesson Plan
Students practice identifying and creating examples of characterization based on comprehension. They assess direct and indirect characterization and use conflict in a plot to generate a piece of writing. Each student selects accurate...
Curated OER
The Effects of Character Decisions
Learners explore characters' decisions. They play a card game in which they match a decision card with a direct effect card. Then they examine characters from The Wizard of Oz, record important decisions that they make on index cards,...
Curated OER
How to Write Really Good Dialogue
How do you create (and punctuate) really good dialogue so that it moves your story forward and provides strong characterization? Use this literary worksheet loaded with examples, clearly stated directions, and fun exercises. Fifth in a...
Curated OER
Review and Quiz on Punctuation CS
Explore indirect and direct characterization and review rules of punctuation. After a review, middle schoolers complete a short worksheet, labeling sentences as an example of a direct or indirect characterization. In groups, they play a...
EngageNY
Characterize Points on a Perpendicular Bisector
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 center of...
Curated OER
The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty Lesson Plan 1
Students read the story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". As a class, they discuss what they daydream about and discuss why the character in the story does it. To end the lesson, they identify the characters, indirect and direct...
Curated OER
My Secret War: Lesson 1
Fifth graders explore historical fiction. In this genre study lesson, 5th graders go on a text feature scavenger hunt to identify the parts of a historical fiction text. Additionally, students read the book, My Secret War and discuss...
Curated OER
Analyzing Folklore: Redwall
Brian Jacques’ novel Redwall provides the focus for a series of lessons involving the analysis of folklore. Adopting the persona of a character, groups write letters in the voice of their character, assemble a collage using Microsoft...
Curated OER
Dear Diary
Work on narrative writing with this lesson, in which middle schoolers analyze the characters from a selected piece of literature and write narrative diary pieces as the character. They work to understand the point of view of the...
Curated OER
Create a Migrant's Scrapbook from the First Great Migration
Help young historians personally engage in the stories of African Americans during the Great Migration! Assessing a migration route map, learners create a migrant character's experience, adding details while studying primary sources. A...
Curated OER
Pride and Prejudice: Unsent Letter
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 plan.
Star Wars in the Classroom
"Shakespeare and Star Wars": Lesson Plan Day 11
Class members take center stage as groups perform scenes from Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope. Actors are encouraged to add stage directions to the script, as well as create costumes and props to...
Curated OER
Characterization
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.
Curated OER
Because of Winn-Dixie Scrapbook
Here is a fun resource that your kids will love. While reading the book Because of Winn-Dixie, they analyze the story's main characters by creating an online scrapbook. The purpose is to have them identify character traits and use...
Curated OER
During Reading Strategy for Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations
Readers create a literary scrapbook for one of the characters in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations and fill it with mementoes, journal entries, letters, etc. A great way to get kids to think about characterization.