Activity
Curated OER

Character Development Project

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Read Dangerous Minds with your language learning disabled pupils to identify characteristics and connect to literature. This is a specific activity intended for use with the suggested book. The class uses a character map  as a way...
Lesson Plan
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National Association of Writers in Education

Character and Situation

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Delve into narrative writing that puts choice in the hands of the writers. Kids pick their own characters, emotions, items, and places from a list and tie them together in the exposition. Several questions help guide the writers toward...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Character in a Bag

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Develop a mystery character using clues from a bag. This engaging activity will help learners understand character traits. They develop a list of the items from the bag, discuss and develop the character with a partner, and create a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Write Some Dialogue

For Teachers 4th - 12th
Students write dialogue. For this character development instructional activity students use direct or indirect speech to include a confrontation between two characters in their story. Students portray the emotions of the characters in...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Searching for Stars

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Positive character traits in literature are explored in this character development and literacy lesson. Learners listen to Cinderella by Charles Perrault and Little Gold Star by Robert D. San Souci, followed by a discussion comparing the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Around the Room Short Story

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Collective story writing is a great way to reinforce the concept of story elements and collaborative learning. Young writers discuss story elements such as, setting, character, action, climax, conclusion, foreshadowing, dialogue, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The "Write" Stuff: Strategies and Conventions for Imaginative Writing

For Teachers 6th
A comprehensive and immersive series of lessons that examines various aspects of story development leads learners into writing a narrative of their own. Writers develop an understanding of the writing process as they use the learning...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Greek Origins and Character Development

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders examine words of Greek origin and discuss character development in fiction. They read a list of Greek word parts and create words on a worksheet. Students then read and discuss an informational handout about character...
Lesson Plan
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Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary

Benjamin Franklin and Learning a Lesson

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Examine stories with a moral in a character development instructional activity. The class reads a short story written by Benjamin Franklin in which he pays too much for a toy whistle. Individuals then make text-to-self connections and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Character Development-Nanavi, A Girl from Benin, West Africa

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students examine the ways a character changes throughout the course of a story.  In this literary analysis lesson, students discuss a story that spans three years in a young girl's life.  Students analyze the changes the girl...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Developing a Topic for Writing Using an Idea Web

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Teach your upper graders how to use an idea web to develop a topic for writing. After reading a variety of stories about friendship (a list of stories with the theme of friendship is included), model using an idea web. Class members...
Unit Plan
Core Knowledge Foundation

Unit 5: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

For Teachers 5th Standards
Fifth graders analyze William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, paying close attention to character development, plot, and dialogue. With daily reading and thoughtful discussion, scholars take pen to paper to respond to journal...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Charging Redchief

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Read and analyze the novel, Ransom of Redchief. They identify the elements of character development, and participate in a mock trial, creating the witnesses through the use of character development.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Animation Pre-Production

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Does your class love reading cartoons? Use their talents and interests to examine the process of writing a story they wish to tell through a cartoon. They develop the beginning, middle, and end of a story based on their original...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fairy Tales Unit Ideas

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students listen to children's fairy tales and watch them on a video. Afterward, they list the heroes from each story. Students write a short paragraph about a typical day for the hero. Students dress up like their character and give a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cinderella Folk Tales: Variations in Character

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars read a variety of Cinderella tales from different cultures. They discuss the differences in character, plot, and conflict resolution in the stories from different countries.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Three Shots": Ernest Hemingway's Nick Adams

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Analyze characterization in literature. Readers use "Three Shots," from The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway and complete classroom activities that require them to apply literary analysis techniques. They write their own short...
Unit Plan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

American Stories: Challenge Activities (Theme 2)

For Teachers 4th
For those class members who have mastered the basic concepts and need extra challenges, here's a packet of activities sure to engage them in stories about American immigration and exploration. Kids may design a dramatic...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Character Sketches

For Teachers 7th - 10th
Learners are introduced to the types of characters found in short stories. They read a short story in class and produce sketches of the protagonist and antagonist. Finally, they create their own characters and write about them in their...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Silly Story Starters

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders brainstorm some ideas for each of the columns. As they call them out, write some on the sticky notes until each sticky note is used for each column They stay in the same groups; have each group draw one sticky note from...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Steps to a Short Story

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students write and publish a short story using KidPix computer software. They discuss the basic elements of a story, observe a demonstration of how to use KidPix, select a setting and characters, and print out their background picture to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Story Pyramids

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young writers generate descriptive words. They use pictures of various landscapes (from books, magazines, or the Internet) and complete a story pyramid. The pyramid (included here) asks to describe the main character, the setting, and...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cinderella Stories

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young scholars listen to the Scottish tale, The Princess and the Golden Shoes, creating a character chart. They develop a newspaper containing news stories, personality profiles, and editorials regarding The Princess and the Golden Shoes.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Acting as a Pre-write Tool

For Teachers 2nd
Second graders use acting to help them in a prewriting activity to develop a story. In this prewriting lesson plan, 2nd graders form a character map and brainstorm ideas for their story.