National Association of Writers in Education
Character and Situation
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...
Curated OER
Quiet on the Set!
In pairs learners perform a silent skit portraying relationships between two known characters from a popular book or a play for their classmates. Next, the class will read and discuss a NYTimes article about a film school in the Bronx...
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Character Development Project
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 to...
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Stop, Think, Go!
Show this presentation to your students at the beginning of the school year and they'll know just what to do when they are having a hard time making good decisions. This resource asks students to remember to use their own personal...
International Network on Personal Meaning
Journey of Personal Development (Part 1) – Know Yourself
Who are you? What are you? The two guiding questions found at the heart of any journey of self-discovery provide the framework for this outline of personal development seminar.
Novelinks
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers: Literary Mandala
Explore the concept of yin and yang with this resource. On the first page, learners study a picture of George Bush. Then, have learners choose a character from The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. After brainstorming adjectives and choosing...
Curated OER
Animation Pre-Production
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...
Curated OER
How Writing Strategies Create a Character: Parrot in the Oven
Identifying specific writing strategies while reading fiction helps to increase understanding of character development. This handout provides a template on which readers can record examples of figurative language and explain how it...
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Co-Operation: Drama
For some schools, character-counts lessons are a big part of the curriculum. This resource focuses on following directions and the importance of being a cooperative team player. Learners role-play a variety of situations by being...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan 7: The Elements of Story
Budding novelists work on character development by relating to the characters in their stories. They imagine their own hopes and dreams and recall those of characters from books they've read. Learners also consider struggles the...
Curated OER
Character Map
A character map worksheeth as this would be handy for your class to support characterization study for any text. It is completely adaptable: your learners choose a character, write three traits in ovals and identify two instances that...
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Lesson Plan 10: Writing Really Good Dialogue
Boring dialogue can run a great story into the ground; get your novelists using dialogue as a tool to move their story into deeper and more developed territory. As part of a larger writing series, this lesson has a worksheet that can...
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Examining Character Traits through Character Mapping
Some of what we know about a character is directly stated. Some of what we know is inferred by events in the story. Character maps help primary learners recognize the difference. After modeling with a story your class has read, pupils...
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Managing Conflict: Channeling Anger
Help kids learn how to cope, manage, and channel their angry feelings. This slide show provides space for learners to discuss how they feel when they are angry, ways they can channel their anger, and several alternative strategies for...
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Someones Else's Shoes
Build a caring and empathetic classroom community. This presentation provides several scenarios to discuss. It focuses on how each scene makes a person feel, then how someone else might feel. A great way to start a discussion or to build...
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Making Friends
Whether it's the first day of school, or there's a new kid in the class, it's always great to talk about ways we make new friends and be a good friend. Younger learners are presented with several scenarios to discuss and think about....
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Homelessness
Take a close look at homelessness with your learners. In this character development lesson, young artists draw a large pair of sunglasses, adding their family and pictures representing their belongings and values on the left lens, and a...
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Silver Blaze and Other Stories
In this Silver Blaze and Other Stories reading and study guide worksheet, learners respond to 8 multi-step short answer, multiple choice, and graphic organizer questions. The questions are designed to be answered before, while, and after...
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Character Development Story Map
In this character development story map worksheet, students complete a flow chart about a character in a book. Students fill in the name of the character and write how the character feels and acts before and after a character change in...
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Around the Room Short Story
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...
Curated OER
Character Development - Flora
Watch video clips that illustrate a character's development. Your class can watch video's about a character and her development through a life decision. They then complete a timeline activity for the story.
Curated OER
Setting Goals
This "goal setting" PowerPoint describes, illustrates, and provides a brief thought process for the steps involved in goal setting including "vision,""commitment," "discipline,""focus," and "persistence."
Curated OER
Creating Character: Courage
Students explore the concept of courage, both in themselves and in others. For this history and character education lesson, students discuss the characteristics of courage and what it means and how one can show it. Students listen to...
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Narrative Writing-10 Strategies for Engaging the Reader
Fifth graders discuss what narrative writing represents. In this language arts lesson plan, 5th graders review the ten strategies for engaging reader. Students listen to and read good examples of each strategyand write engaging...