Over the past several years, I have been looking for methods, lessons, activities, games, etc… that will truly engage my students in their learning. I have been working to become the ‘guide on the side’ rather than the ‘sage on the stage’ as they say. Through this blog, I share that journey and the ideas and lessons gained with you. From voice and choice to meaningful learning games, my hope is to share out the methods that are truly working to engage students in an ever distracting world of instant gratification and low motivation.
Recently, I wrote a blog post all about how I let go of the reins in my class and started offering students some say in my classroom assessments. Check out the behind-the-scenes information about my apprehensive journey into student choice in my blog post, Offering Voice and Choice in Assessments: A Guide for Letting Go.
My goal is always to encourage students to take ownership of their ideas and education, so I let them take the lead by utilizing classroom and small group discussions as often as possible. I like discussions because they allow students to be creative, test theories, and expand on ideas, and let me tell you, my students have brain-dumped their way to some really interesting, unexpected ideas.
My go-to Character Analysis unit is designed to scaffold student learning from studying and applying vocabulary, to analyzing direct and indirect characterization in the student’s own text, and eventually, students synthesize their learning by writing a Character Analysis essay. This unit is a structured, well-designed, and proven process for helping students understand how characters interact and develop within any text, but I love adding in these three mini-lessons to facilitate meaningful discussions while getting students to enjoy the learning process.
#1: Motivation Debate
Grab this free lesson here!
I use the Motivation Debate when we start to discuss character motivation (which I cover in my Character Analysis Lesson). As a class, we discuss what drives a character’s thoughts, actions, and reactions. Then, after we list both main and supplementary characters from the book we are studying on the board, I explain their challenge. They will collaborate in small groups to become detective and attorney in The Great Motivation Debate. First, they will play detective to find the true motivation and find evidence to support this assessment. Then, they will play attorney as they use that evidence to craft mini-arguments to debate in the ‘courtroom.’
Then, it is time to debate. I ask one student from each side to play judge. Together they will listen to the arguments presented by both sides on the ‘truest’ motivation for that character. They will then render their verdict- the winner of the debate. If these judges cannot agree, I will step in as the Supreme Court Justice to deliver the final verdict!
Variations of this activity can be used as a way of differentiating for different learners. For struggling readers, I can provide two different potential motivations and ask them to determine which they think is stronger (by providing evidence from the text), and for advanced readers, I give deeper motivations with more nuanced differences and assign students to each side. Both conversations require students to reread passages through a different lens, discuss intent, and make claims they have to support with textual evidence.
Advanced Example
Scout Finch’s motivation is to prove to Dill that she is just as great as Jem.
Scout Finch’s motivation is to prove to her brother that she is just as great as he is.
Note: The motivations you provide to the students don’t have to be what you believe to be the strongest or most true motivation for that character, but they should make the students think about the text differently.
#2 One Moment, Varying Perspectives
When discussing character, we are really discussing perspective and intent. What was the author’s goal within the way that he/she wrote their characters? Since we don’t have the opportunity to call up ol’ Shakespeare and ask him what he was thinking when he wrote Romeo, we have to make assumptions and educated guesses based on the information provided in the play; nevertheless, this is difficult because books, like life, are not all cut and dry.
When I teach students about indirect and direct characterization, I give them the time to go through their book and fill out the graphic organizers that I’ve included in the lesson. As students fill out the graphic organizers I look over their work. If I see that many of my students seem to be easily picking-up on identifying direct and indirect characterization, I set aside time to do a “One Moment, Varying Perspectives” discussion to allow them to extend their learning.
In a “One Moment, Varying Perspectives” discussion, students are asked to look at a character through the perspectives of other people in the scene/moment with them. Take Of Mice and Men for example. The first night Lennie and George are at the ranch, Lennie brings a puppy into the bunkhouse, and George yells at him. At that time, there are several other men in that bunkhouse. How might Lennie’s characterization (indirect and direct) be interpreted by those other characters? Would they all interpret his actions/words the same way? A “One Moment, Varying Perspectives” discussion requires no prep, but it can lead to a deep classroom discussion about verbal and nonverbal communication, communication channels, and intentional vs. unintentional communication, which are all extensions of Character Analysis.
#3 Character Displacement
Last but not least, I have one more discussion opportunity up my sleeve. This one is a great one-day, full-class discussion, extension activity for Advanced Learners, or even a discussion Special Education teachers can use with their students in a pull-out lesson. It is a high engagement, high creativity discussion.
Character Displacement is actually pretty simple. Take a character out of their “world” or “text” and place them in another. Technically, this could be a whole essay or writing activity, but I like it as a discussion because I see students playing off of each other’s ideas. Sometimes they get a little silly, but within that silly, they have the ability to make some great points and pull out strong examples from the text.
Taking the time to discuss how a character would interact with others outside their own story requires a deep understanding of the character, and if we go so far as to start writing the character into a scene from another book, we notice their characterization even more because of how well they blend in or how badly they stand out.
We can also displace the character into our world. What would it look like if Dill walked into the cafeteria? What might he say to the lunchroom personnel? Who would he sit with? Why? How would his intrinsic motivation be altered? The same? When students provide answers to my questions or start to ask questions of their own, I encourage them to dig into the text and find indirect and direct characterization examples to support their theory/idea.
I sprinkle these collaborative activities throughout my character analysis unit. Another collaborative opportunity I provide in this unit is mentor text stations, where students break down the critical elements of a character analysis essay looking at quality examples. These stations guide students in their group discussions towards a meaningful understanding of each element. Check out my full character analysis unit here!
