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Using Inspiration Software to Explore Characters In Stories
Students identify characters, their qualities, and examples of their qualities and use Inspiration to organize them in a clear and understandable format. After a lecture/demo, students use the program on the next story by themselves.
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Poems Put to Use
Students listen to sample poetry recitations. They discuss times when poetry might be used in real-life situations to move/motivate other people or audiences. They identify particularly moving passages and then quote them effectively to...
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Act it Out
Students discuss racial stereotypes. In this racial stereotypes lesson, students develop a character from information given to them on an index card. Students give their character a race different from their own and write a...
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Theatre: Persuasive Explorers
Students act like a famous explorer. In this explorer lesson, students research an explorer and act out persuasive arguments in which that explorer might be involved.
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Dodging Responsibility
Students explore responsibility. For this character education lesson, students review the definition of responsibility and brainstorm possible consequences of taking responsibility and not taking responsibility. Student's thoughts...
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Dramatizing Fables
Students familiarize themselves with fables by listening to several of them. They define fables. They identify the moral of a specific fable. They identify characters, plot and sequence of events. They create a mask of a character in a...
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Literature Circles
Fourth graders work in groups in order to motivate one another to develop reading comprehension and literacy skills. The skills are built through the sharing of fine literature. They maintain a reading log to keep accountable for the...
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Convincing Characters
Learners create vivid, active characters for a story. In this character lesson, students discuss the characters in books they are familiar with. Learners create a list of novels they have read and discuss the character types. Students...
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Character's Qualities
Sixth graders analyze the a character's qualities and the effects of these qualities on the plot and the resolution of the conflict in the story "The Pigman and Me." They develop a list of the qualities, discuss if these qualities were...
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Watergate
Students are asked to think about their attitudes towards politicans. They describe the character of Richard Nixon and the attitude of his White House. Students are told about the Watergate scandal. They discuss the effects of the...
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Screwing Courage in Macbeth
High schoolers read, analyze, and act out the scenes 1.7.29-79 of the William Shakespeare play, "Macbeth." They discuss motivation, tactics, and obstacles, and improvise scenes suggested by the class.
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Robin Hood: England's Man of Mystery
Students study the tale of Robin Hood to further their knowledge of character traits, improve their vocabularies, and increase their knowledge of the Medieval Ages. In this Robin Hood lesson, students complete 14 lessons that help them...
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Let the Leader Beware
Students consider the tone of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. In this drama lesson, students read the first two acts of the play and discuss tone of the acts. Students also respond to questions about the characters and their motives.
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African-American Autobiography for the Middle School Student
Pupils are introduced to the characteristics of an autobiography. For each author, they research their life and works and discuss why it reflects different time periods of African-Americans. In groups, they brainstorm characteristics of...
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Dear Young Philanthropist
Students research the lives of philanthropists from history and role-play as them. They write letters to students explaining their motivations for helping others. They prepare visual presentations of their chosen philanthropists.
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I'm Thankful For...
First graders engage in a instructional activity that demonstrates the character trait of thankfulness. The teacher enthusiastically shares something to be thankful for with the class. Then they spend the time to draw an idea of...
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Integraded Skills and Speaking: Speed-Dating
Learners practice speaking and using adjectives to describe someone's character. They also revise question formation structures.
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Letter Writing from a Different Perspective
Third graders write a letter from one character to another in a story they are reading. In this writing lesson plan, 3rd graders demonstrate their understanding of perspective.
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What Can I Do?
Students identify feelings and learn how to handle conflict. In this character education instructional activity, discuss what to do when a friend is feeling sad and develop positive ways to handle negative feelings.
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The Amazon Rain Forest
Fifth graders perform a play about the Amazon Rain Forest. They practice assigned parts and sing a song about the Rain Forest. They create costumes for the characters and discuss the role each character plays. They perform the play...
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Discovering Our Legacy of Giving
Seventh graders examine the characteristics of philanthropists. In this cross- curricular lesson, 7th graders evaluate the character traits of people from a film. Students write a metaphor about responsibility to community.
Recorded Books
Teacher's Guide: The Pinballs
Dive your class into the novel The Pinballs by Betsy Byars with the support of this reading guide. Including short answer questions, a multiple choice comprehension quiz, and extension activities, a variety of materials are...
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Good Judgement and Honesty
Seventh graders write about the importance of honesty. In this character education lesson, 7th graders reflect about the value of honesty and following the rules. This lesson is part of a larger unit on honesty.
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Teaching Caring
For this teaching caring worksheet, students complete a true/false checklist about being a caring person and complete discussion questions after viewing a referenced video. Suggestions for writing and students activities are also given.