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The Great Gilly Hopkins: Characterization and prediction

In the final chapters of the novel, Gilly's grandmother learns she has a granddaughter and decides to take Gilly out of foster care. Many of my classroom readers are often dismayed by this unexpected conflict and its outcome. In this lesson, the classroom becomes a courtroom where students predict the outcome of this conflict.

This activity can be used at the end of the novel, but I like to use it after reading chapters 10 and 11 so students can compare the courtroom decision to the end of the novel.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4–6 English Language Arts)

By Emily Vann.

The big, bad, red wolf: Fact and fantasy

This lesson will explore the myths and legends surrounding wolves. We will also investigate factual information about the endangered red wolf.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Science)

By Steven Sather.

Caricature character tour

Students create a caricature of a literary character using magazine cutouts to practice reading for details and characterization.

Format: lesson plan (grade English Language Arts)

By Janice Ianniello.

Resources on the web

Action is character: Exploring character traits with adjectives

In this lesson from ReadWriteThink, students “become” one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters using lists of accurate, powerful adjectives. In class discussion, students support their lists with details... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–7 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Analyzing character in "Hamlet" through epitaphs

Students draft original epitaphs for a character from Hamlet and using three-paneled poster board, design gravestones to display their work. After students create a list of the major deceased characters in the play, the class... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Characters in Because of Winn–Dixie: Making lists of ten

In this alternative lesson to a book report, students explore how authors use certain techniques to develop characters. This lesson employs a strategy used in the children's book, Because of Winn–Dixie, where the characters... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Connotation, character, and color imagery in The Great Gatsby.

This unit, provided by ReadWriteThink, offers a variety of introductory activities in order to acquaint students with the rhetorical devices of connotation, denotation and color imagery in The Great Gatsby. Lessons provide... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–10 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Eugene O'Neill on page and stage

Plays are “living” art forms, existing not only on the page, but in performance. Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night is a masterpiece of American theatre; the powerful words of the text take on even more weight and impact when performed.... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and Theater Arts Education)

Provided by: ArtsEdge

Lights, camera, action: Interviewing a book character

While independently reading a novel, students take note of important events that are related to a chosen character. They explore how the character reacts to an event or situation as an indication of the his/her personality or values. Using implicit and... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Preparing a character for a new job: Character analysis through job placement

In this lesson, students play the role of job counselors working at an employment agency in order to prepare their clients, who are literary characters, for interviews. Although this lesson uses The Glass Menagerie, there... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 9–12 English Language Arts and Guidance)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Writing alternative plots for Robert C. O'Brien's “Z for Zachariah”

In this lesson that concludes a class reading of Robert C. O'Brien's Z for Zachariah, students pick a part of the story where Ann makes a critical decision, and they rewrite the remaining portion of the plot. After reading... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink