AchieveReading
Levels
K-5
Instructional Intervention Teaching Reading Skills to Achieve Common Core Outcomes
SAMPLE This document is for demonstration purposes only
Level 5 – Character Analysis
Reading Skills
Objectives Pre-Requisite
Current
Growth
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact).
Describe how a particular story’s or drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.
CCSS R.L. 4.3
CCSS R.L. 5.3
CCSS R.L. 6.3
Achieve Reading Level 4 Lessons: 8, 19, 44
Achieve Reading Level 5 Lessons: 5, 18, 25, 45, 59
Achieve Reading Level 6 Lessons: 6, 23, 27, 36, 43
Review & Pre-Assessment Use the following questions to help students activate prior knowledge • What is a character in a story and why are characters important? • How do you describe what a “character” is in a story? • When you read a story, how does the author’s language and description of a character help you understand the story? • What other information in a story may help you to understand the character? • What human attributes help you to understand story characters? • How can one character in a story help you to understand another character? • Can you tell what you think “character motivation” means? • How can the plot of a story affect a character or a character affect the plot? Give an example.
Instruction • Start a dialogue on characterization by discussing with students a familiar film character and/or list character attributes (shy, silly, clever, tall and lanky, etc.) and ask them what descriptive word best fits the character. Follow this activity by leading a discussion of a character from a recently read selection. Have students describe the character and tell how they drew their conclusions; what information in the story helped them. > An alternative to the film may be to read aloud a text selection that provides a strong characterization such as that of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series • Provide direct instruction in both identifying direct and indirect characterization
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Reading Skills
Level 5 – Character Analysis
Direct Characterization To teach direct characterization, explain to students that in direct characterization the author/narrator tells the audience directly about the character, his personality, and/or physical traits during the narration part of a story, not through character dialogue. The author will write things such “He was a boy who while small in stature (physical description), was smart (intelligence) and wily (personality).” Encourage comprehension of direct characterization by asking students to find textual evidence to answer questions such as:
> How does the character change physically in the story?
> What does the character learn as the story unfolds?
> How does the character get along with the other characters in the story?
> What does the character believe about the way his life is?
> How does the author use adjectives to describe the character?
Indirect Characterization To teach indirect characterization, explain to students that in indirect characterization the student will often need to read between the lines. With indirect characterization, the author can use both dialogue and narration. As opposed to the example given in direct characterization, the author might provide the same information using dialogue. For example, the author may write: “Dylan whispered to Jose, ‘Be careful, Michael may be small, but he’s sly and very smart. Don’t let him fool you.’” Teach students to identify indirect characterizations by using the STEAL acronym which stands for Speech, Thoughts, Effects on Others, Actions, Looks. Encourage comprehension of indirect characterization by asking students to find textual evidence to answer questions that support the STEAL acronym such as:
> How does the character speak? What does that tell you about him?
> What is revealed through the character’s private thoughts and feelings?
> What effect does the character have on the other characters in the story?
> How does the character act, and how do his actions affect the events in the story? How do the other characters react as a result?
> How does the character look?
• Provide students with multiple opportunities to ask questions as well as discuss and write about characters and apply newly learned character analysis skills to activities such as evaluating/ judging characters’ behaviors, comparing and contrasting characters found in the same and different stories, and analyzing how two characters feel about each other based on indirect evidence from the text. Encourage students to identify how the author uses language through both direct and indirect characterization to provide the reader with information about the character. Compare and contrast the information found in both. • Encourage students to work with precision and monitor their progress.
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Level 5 – Character Analysis
Reading Skills
Scaffolding Additional support
Additional challenge or rigor
• Use a text from 3rd or 4th grade containing less complicated or more obvious characterizations such as Tacky The Penguin
• Using a grade level appropriate book, have student(s) find textual evidence that demonstrates that a character’s point of view changes over the course of the text.
• Ask student to identify the individual traits of just one character at a time, providing as much information as possible, until the student is able to provide details about each individual character.
• Have student(s) compare/contrast the direct and indirect characterizations for two characters, and identify what the author most wanted the reader to know about the characters (e.g., Personality? Inner thoughts? Physical attributes?)
Evidence of Learning • Students are able to generate a detailed set of notes identifying character traits and personality clues, as well as the text that supports these observations. • Students are able to make connections, by comparing and contrasting the traits of two or more characters within a story, either verbally, or using a Venn diagram. • Students are able to participate in and contribute to discussions about a character’s motivations and contributions to the story/plot. • Students are able to monitor their own progress and they welcome feedback from other students as well as the teacher.
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