In this lesson, students examine the traits of characters from their favorite books and learn to distinguish
between factual character traits presented directly by the story and character traits that readers infer from the story.
Students also create a Microsoft Office Visio 2007 character map for a selected character. On This PageLesson plan|
School level | | • | Kindergarten (5 years old) | | • | Elementary school (6-10 years old) |
| Subjects | | Class time | | • | 1 class period (one 45-minute period) |
| Software required | | • | Microsoft Office Word 2007 | | • | Microsoft Office Visio 2007 |
| Materials needed | |
Teacher guideGoals | • | Students will develop their reading comprehension skills. | | • | Students will understand the notion of character, character traits, and the importance of character development within stories. | | • | Students will learn to distinguish between character traits that a story names directly and character traits they infer from a story. |
Objectives | • | Students will use Microsoft Office Visio 2007 to create a map of a character. |
Lesson procedureIntroduction
What makes a good story? We usually remember and enjoy stories that have lots of good action and good characters.
Today we are going to think about characters in stories. What makes them who they are? What things about them help us to
identify who they are? For example, what traits make Peter Pan Peter Pan and not Cinderella?
One way to think about your favorite characters and to understand other characters in stories you are reading is to make
a map of those characters.
Let's take a look at the character [name a character from a story you have read with class or that the entire class has
read] for example. What do we know about this character? [On the overhead projector or whiteboard, list all the
information that students offer about the character.]
How did we learn these different things about this character? Which traits does the book tell us directly?
[Mark each trait the students identify that is stated directly in the book or story.] We call these traits
"factual traits."
What about the rest of these traits on our list? If the story doesn't tell us these things about the character directly,
how did we learn them? How did we figure out these things about the character from the information given us in the story?
[Select one trait that students inferred, and discuss how they inferred it from the character's action, by their dialogue,
or by other means.] These kinds of traits that the book doesn't tell us directly as facts about the character but that we
figure out from a character's actions or speech are called "inferred traits."
It's not just a character's traits that make him or her interesting. The way the character changes or grows during the story
also makes the character interesting to us and makes the story enjoyable. How does this character change during the story?
[List the changes.] Do you think you would like the story as much if this character hadn't changed at all from the beginning to the end?
In this activity, you are going to think about a character in a story. You will create a map of that character that shows all the
different factual and inferred traits that make them who they are. [Show them the character map you created of the character you
have been discussing with them.] When you are done mapping your character, you'll know more about how to understand the characters
in stories that you read and write.
Main activity [Teachers: Please download the Student activity handout for details on the main activity for this lesson plan: Conclusion | • |
Evaluate your students' character maps. Did they correctly identify the traits of the characters?
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Did they correctly distinguish the factual and inferred traits?
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Have students show their maps to the entire class and discuss the maps to assess and reinforce their understanding of inferred traits versus traits named directly in the book.
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Materials needed| • | Download the Character map template (Microsoft Office Visio 2007 file, 87 KB) to your classroom computer, and place it in your Favorites. Students will use this template to map the traits of a character. | | • | Select a character in a story that you have read to the students (or that all the students have read), and then create a character map for that character. This map will serve as the demonstration model you show the class during the introduction. |
Lesson extension activities| • |
Have the students create a character map from another story that they are reading or from one that they are writing.
| | • | Have students create a character map for a character they make up and then write a story based on that character. |
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