Combine writing a paragraph with character analysis

characterstudy

The following lesson plan demonstrates an integrated approach to “backwards planning”, direct instruction, modeling, and guided practice to teach students how to write a paragraph about a character.

It can be used from mid-elementary level through high school. (I even use it with college students in a writing skills course.)

You can easily adapt the lesson plan for other writing assignments, including essays, and for other types of analysis such as compare and contrast, cause and effect, persuasion, etc. Scroll to the end for further explanation.

Many of my students do not know how to write a paragraph or how to analyze a character, so I have to teach both skills. I start as follows:

  1. Explain the parts of a paragraph and write them on the board, overhead, or chart paper. (Topic sentence, supporting sentences, detail sentences, concluding sentence.)
  2. Provide examples of well-organized paragraphs and discuss them. (You can either have the parts already labeled in your examples or have the students identify them.)
  3. Provide examples of starter topic sentences. (E.g., My favorite place to go swimming is _______, Football is a popular sport, I like/dislike school because _____.) Pick one and demonstrate how to brainstorm supporting details. Write the details on the board, overhead, or chart paper. Check for understanding by asking questions and encouraging student participation. (Why is football popular? How do we know it is popular? Do any of you like it? What do you like about it? Do you play? On a team? With friends? When do you watch it?)
  4. Write a paragraph on the board, overhead, or chart paper using the ideas generated through brainstorming. Discuss each step of the process and encourage student participation.
  5. Have students pick another topic sentence and, either alone or with a partner, brainstorm details and write a paragraph. Circulate the room, checking progress and assisting struggling students.
  6. Have students write their paragraphs on chart paper and hang them on the walls.
  7. Point out the strengths and weaknesses of each student paragraph. Encourage student participation. (What do you like about the paragraph? What do you think of the topic sentence? Can you identify the concluding sentence?)
  8. Pick a character that all the students know. (I use Goldilocks, even with college students. At this stage, we are increasing skills, not content knowledge.)
  9. Distribute graphic organizers appropriate for character analysis.  Here’s an example from Freeology.com:  characterstudy.pdf
  10. Using the board, overhead, or chart paper, lead the class through completing the graphic organizer by identifying Goldilocks’ characteristics and evidence from the story. (E.g., Goldilocks is nosey. What evidence demonstrates this? She explores the house of strangers.)
  11. Using information from the graphic organizer, have the class pick two characteristics.
  12. On the board, overhead, or chart paper, use the two characteristics to write a topic sentence describing Goldilocks.
  13. Continue demonstrating and discussing with the class by completing the paragraph. Discuss each step of the process and encourage student participation.
  14. Demonstrate editing using different colored chalk or markers.
  15. Read aloud a very short (one or two pages) but more advanced story.
  16. Repeat the process using a character from the short story.
  17. Have the students read another very short story and pick a character from the story.
  18. Have the students repeat the process either working alone, with a partner, or in small groups. Circulate the room, checking progress and assisting struggling students.
  19. After reading the finished paragraphs, you can determine whether the students are ready to write about a character from a text in your curriculum.

All at Once or Spread Over Time

The entire lesson takes approximately three to five hours to complete. It can be presented over an entire week (give or take). Alternatively, you can chunk the lesson plan and spread it out over several weeks.

For example, you could cover steps 1 through 7 over one or two days. You could then introduce a text such as a short story and tell the students that they will be focusing on characters.

After a few days of reading the text and discussing characters, demonstrate writing about a character by covering steps 8 through 14. Then return to reading and discussing the text, reminding students that they will be applying their new skills in the future.

When ready to practice writing paragraphs and analyzing characters, do steps 15 and 16. To reinforce and informally assess the students’ learning, do steps 17 through 19.

Easy Adaptations

This lesson can easily be adapted to teach essay writing. Simply modify steps 1 through 8 to demonstrate how to write an essay instead of a paragraph.

The lesson can also be adapted to teach other types of analysis such as compare and contrast or cause and effect. Choose appropriate graphic organizers and easy to understand content for steps 9 through 19.

Pedagogical Talk

Backwards planning, direct instruction, modeling, and guided practice require a great deal of both planning and active interaction with students. Woven together, however, they accomplish everything we are striving to teach: skills, content, and critical thinking. Teachers can use them for most skills and content areas.

“Backwards planning” involves the following steps:

1 First determine what you expect the students to be able to do at the end of the lesson or unit. I.e., what is the goal or objective?

2 Think about how to perform the skill.

3 Plan how to explain each step of the skill to your students.

4 Find materials and lessons that demonstrate each of those steps.

You cannot expect the students to do what you want just by explaining it. It is essential that you show them. Then do it with them before finally releasing them to do it on their own.

For instance, let’s take the above objective of writing a paragraph about a character. Initially, it appears straightforward enough. Read a story and tell the students to write about a character, right? Wrong.

The assignment actually requires the students to utilize a combination of writing, analytic, and critical thinking skills. If your students struggle with any of these skills, you must carefully plan how to teach the skills. (My students struggle with all of the skills.)

It is important to envision the final result and the steps needed to get to it. If I want my students to write a paragraph on a character, I reflect on how I would do it.

In my mind, I identify a character’s characteristics and the evidence or details from the text that demonstrate those characteristics. I would then picture myself writing a topic sentence summarizing the characteristics. The rest of the paragraph would support the topic sentence with reasons and details. I would remind myself to make sure that the first or second sentence of the paragraph contained the “GAT” – the genre, author, and title of the text. I would then envision wrapping up the paragraph with a concluding sentence. Finally, I would remember editing for mistakes and style.

Actually writing a paragraph about a character might take me 10 to 20 minutes. Thinking about all the steps probably took twice as long. Why? Because it’s automatic for me to analyze and write. Like riding a bike. Making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It’s easier to do than to think about.

But it’s not automatic for students. We must explain and demonstrate each step, whether for initial understanding or for reinforcement.

Technorati Tags: ,,,,,,