Activity Overview
Students will develop original characters as protagonists or antagonists and write brief character sketches for their original characters. Finally, students will assess each other's characters by exchanging character sketches with other students.
Before the Activity
See the attached Activity PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity.
Print the appropriate pages from the Activity for your class.
Install the NoteFolio™ App on the students' graphing calculators following the attached instructions.
Review the terms character, characterization, protagonist, and antagonist. Review how character is developed through details of appearance, actions/behavior, thoughts/feelings, and statements. Refer to Activities 1 and 2 to do so. Distribute the NoteFolio file, CHARA3.8xv, to each student in the class, using the same procedure from Activity 1.
During the Activity
Distribute the appropriate pages from the Activity to your class
Distribute the NoteFolio file(s) to your class using TI Connect™ and the appropriate TI Connectivity cable
Follow the procedures outlined in the Activity
Students will:
Comprehend the terms character and characterization.
Analyze a short story to identify character and characterization.
Develop their own detailed characters.
Write short character sketches.
Identify and evaluate the literary elements of character and characterization in professional models and peer writing.
After the Activity
When the peer critiques are completed, the critique files should be sent to the author(s) for review. Give the students some time to review their critique. If desired, the teacher can allow the students to revise their characterization to incorporate suggestions from the reviewer.
After reviewing the critiques, bring the class together to discuss the characterizations the students created and reviewed. Encourage the class to discuss their successes as well as to bring up problems they encountered.
If the class is using this lesson to build up to writing their own narrative, it might be helpful to the class to look at some of the problems various students encountered in developing their characters and, as a class, to brainstorm ideas for resolving them. Remind the class (if appropriate) that these characters can be used in their narrative, and future lessons should be worked with these characters in mind.