Curated OER
Characterization Worksheet
Use any story with this characterization worksheet! On the first page is a graphic organizer that encourages the reader to look for examples of direct characterization. On page two, read about direct and indirect characterizations,...
Curated OER
Become a Character: Adjectives, Character Traits, and Perspective
Students use an online chart to match the character traits of a character in a book they are reading with specific actions the character takes. Students then work in pairs to "become" one of the major characters in a book and describe...
Curated OER
Direct and Indirect Characterization
How does an author develop his or her characters? Using the short story "On the Bridge" by Todd Strasser, readers study character development by looking for examples of both direct and indirect characterization. They plot these points on...
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
Pride and Prejudice: List-Group-Label
What words would you use to describe Mr. Darcy? What about Elizabeth? Use vivid vocabulary to create lists of adjectives to describe the characters of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. After kids come up with their own lists of...
Curated OER
Much Ado About Nothing Masks Lesson
Students examine the personality traits of characters. In this characterization lesson, students read act 2 of "Much Ado About Nothing" and create masks to represent the characters in the play.
Curated OER
Pride and Prejudice: Magic Square Activity
Turn Pride and Prejudice into a math activity with a magic squares lesson plan. Kids read nine character traits and pair them to a list of the book's characters in order to complete the activity and find the magic number.
Statistics Education Web
First Day Statistics Activity—Grouping Qualitative Data
Making groups of groups can help to organize data. Classes use statistics to group themselves using descriptive adjectives. The objective is for learners to understand that grouping qualitative data is useful when the original groups are...
Curated OER
Capturing the Reader with Vivid Images
In this using vivid images worksheet, students identify vivid images and analyze their effectiveness in John Deever's "Mr. John and the Day of Knowledge." Students then write rich images for their classmates to imagine.
San José State University
Coordinating Conjunctions
As a review of coordinating conjunctions, this short activity could be useful. Learners are required to use a coordinating conjunction to combine two sentences in this 8 question activity.
Curated OER
Same Setting, Different Moods: Voice and Word Choice Using Lord of the Flies
Whether it's dark, delightful, or somber, set the mood with William Golding's Lord of the Flies. High-schoolers practice descriptive writing by creating the appropriate mood for an original scene, starring one of the book's main...
Curated OER
Fairy Tales
Class groups examine fairy tales from a feminist and a Marxist perspective, identifying how these tales present gender roles and class/power systems. The groups then script and perform their own tale that uses one of these lenses.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Become a Character
In this online lesson and activity, students actually "become" a character from a novel in their analysis of characterization. The lesson uses the Scarlet Letter, but any novel can be used. RL.9-10.3 Analyzing Characters, RL.11-12.3 Auth...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Show What Your Mind Sees
This writing activity asks writers to make use of both showing and telling as they create a well-organized paragraph of description. After reviewing showing versus telling by building a writer's notebook page, each writer will show what...
Caro Clarke
Not Stopping the Reader: How to Avoid Stumbling Blocks
This is the eighth article in a series that focuses on helping the new novel author. This article looks at how the author can avoid creating stumbling blocks that disrupt the flow of the novel.
Caro Clarke
Explaining Too Much: Why More Is Less
This is the eleventh article in a series that is designed to help the new novel author. This article focuses on how to eliminate needless information in your novel. The key is to not explain too much about the action.