This listing is for a characterization activity entitled "Mind Jump" in which students analyze how point of view affects characterization. This mini-lesson is part of the Mega Characterization Bundle of over 15 characterization mini-lessons that get your students working with all literary devices and techniques. You can find it listed separately in our store. Bundle and save over $15.00! For this mini-lesson: "Mind Jump" Task To write from the point of view of characters from a piece of literature in order to assess how point of view shapes characterization Objectives To understand what motivates characters to take action To develop criteria for analyzing character To assess comprehension of character development across a text Common Core Standards R1, 3, 6, 11/ W1-4, 10/ L1-3 Instructions Understanding a character’s point of view is necessary in determining a character’s motivation to take action. In this activity, students will explore the point of view of a specific character and attempt to write from that character’s perspective. After completing the “Mind Jump” Activity, students can complete the following post activities that are also included: the “Mind Jump” Pair Discussion, the “Mind Jump” Character Chart, and/or the “Mind Jump” Post Write-up in order to analyze the traits of the character from the initial “Mind Jump” Lead Activity.

This listing is for a characterization activity entitled "Love Triangle" in which students analyze how a character's romantic relationships affect the story as a whole. This mini-lesson is part of the Mega Characterization Bundle of over 15 characterization mini-lessons that get your students working with all literary devices and techniques. You can find it listed separately in our store. Bundle and save over $15.00! For this mini-lesson: "Love Triangle" Task To assess the motif of the “love triangle” in a piece of literature and its effects upon literary elements Objectives To develop criteria for analyzing character To assess comprehension of character development across a text To support analysis with textual evidence To assess how character interaction affects literary elements To synthesize findings and present them to a group Common Core Standards R1-3, 6, 10, 11/ W1-4, 10-11/ SL 1, 4, 6/ L1-3 Instructions Oftentimes, a story involves three characters that are in love with one another (or pursue one another) at different points in the plot. This is called a “love triangle” and is a common motif in stories (and sometimes this “love triangle” is quite bizarre—pun intended for the 80’s audience). In this activity, students will consider the “love triangle” of a piece of literature that involves three characters who are in love or lust with one another in varying combinations. For example, one of the most popular “love triangles” in recent pop culture is that of Bella, Edward, and Jacob in the Twilight series. At different points, Bella shows feelings for both Edward and Jacob who, in turn, show feelings for her. As with the Twilight series, the “love triangle” propels the plot by creating tension and conflict in the story and by forcing the protagonist to make decisions. In the case of Twilight, Bella is forced to choose between Edward and Jacob, which causes her character to become conflicted at different points in the story and also to confront feelings of jealousy and rejection. In the “Love Triangle” Activity, students will consider the “love triangle” in a piece of literature in order to assess the dynamics of the relationships among the three characters involved. They will also consider how the “love triangle” motif affects other literary elements in the story such as conflict, plot, and characterization. In the first follow-up activity, the “Love Triangle” Group Presentation, students focus upon a single literary element and determine how the “love triangle” affects that element in the story. Students are then to present their findings to the class using textual evidence. In the Exploratory Activity, the “Love Triangle” Poem, students write from the perspective of one of the characters involved in the “love triangle” in or

This listing is for a characterization activity entitled "Debate Time!" in which students debate on various topics relating to characterization using textual evidence. This mini-lesson is part of the Mega Characterization Bundle of over 15 characterization mini-lessons that get your students working with all literary devices and techniques. You can find it listed separately in our store. Bundle and save over $15.00! For this mini-lesson: "Debate Time!" Task To debate different aspects of characters using textual evidence to support character analysis Objectives To develop criteria for analyzing character To support analysis with textual evidence To use rhetorical skills for constructing and supporting an oral argument To construct an effective argument supported with logical reasoning and textual evidence Common Core Standards R1, 3, 6, 11/ W1, 2, 4, 10/ SL 1, 3, 4, 6/ L1-3 Instructions One of the most engaging and interactive ways to get students involved in class discussion is through a debate. For the FIVE debate activities included in this listing, you will assign your students to a specific character from a specific piece of literature. Then, students will answer the yes or no “focus question” for the debate activity by providing textual evidence, reasons, and character traits to support each side of the debate for the assigned character. Each debate activity also includes an optional “Post-Debate Write-up” that students can complete after they have debated the question in class. This writing activity will help students to synthesize the class debate and arrive at their own character analysis. If you would like to assess the quality of student responses as well as create a more independent debate, consider using the rubric included here in this packet. This rubric requires students to speak a certain number of times, and students are assessed on the quality and depth of what they say—not just for merely speaking. There are also ways for students to earn bonus points during the discussion according to this rubric. The checks and symbols on the rubric are how I notate student credit during the debate. Overall, these discussions will get your students involved in analyzing literature on a deeper level and using textual evidence to support arguments.

This listing is for a characterization activity in which students analyze the three dimensions of character. This mini-lesson is part of the Mega Characterization Bundle of over 15 characterization mini-lessons that get your students working with all literary devices and techniques. You can find it listed separately in our store! Bundle and save over $15.00! Task To assess the three dimensions of character Objectives To develop criteria for analyzing character To assess comprehension of character development across a text To support analysis with textual evidence To work effectively with others to produce a product To produce a piece of argumentative writing in an organized, coherent way using textual evidence Common Core Standards R1-3, 6, 10, 11/ W1, 2, 4, 10-11/ SL 1, 4, 6/ L1, 2, 3, 6 Instructions “Characters in 3-D” addresses the three dimensions of characters. Like real life people, characters have different aspects that create our life experiences. These dimensions are: physiology (physical makeup), sociology (life experiences), and psychology (behaviors & attitudes). When compiled together, we can begin to see a cause/ effect relationship emerge between the three different dimensions of character. In this series of activities, students will consider the three dimensions of a character and analyze how they interact to produce an entire character. In the Lead Activity, students are introduced to the three dimensions of character and then asked to apply them to their favorite character. Then, students move on to assessing the three dimensions of a protagonist of a piece of literature and collect evidence to put into an analytical paragraph in which they discuss how the physiology and sociology of a character lead to his/her psychology. Finally, students can work in groups to create a brand new SUPERHERO character in which they practice mapping out the three dimensions of character to present to the class. Students will have LOTS of fun creating a new SUPERHERO and sharing it with the class! This creative activity provides an interactive and entertaining way to assess students’ understanding of the three dimensions of character.

Characterization is a literary element that can be used as a lens to analyze all other literary elements and devices. This bundle contains 13 mini-lessons centered on analyzing characterization that are ready to print and use with any text. These mini-lessons include acting skits, writing poetry, creating timelines, drawing comic strips, and much, much more! They are great activities for facilitating the writing process. This bundle also has great ideas to use for emergency lesson plans in grades 6-12. Find this bundle as part of the Bespoke ELA MEGA CHARACTERIZATION BUNDLE, sold separately. Bundle and SAVE!

This packet contains three different prompts for essays focused on analyzing character. The prompts are accompanied by a brainstorming guide along with an outline form for planning the essay. These are excellent tools for helping guide students through the process of using characterization as a lens for literary analysis. This product can be found as part of the MEGA CHARACTERIZATION BUNDLE, sold separately. Bundle and SAVE!

A central part of literary analysis involves analyzing the characters of a piece of literature. I have found that character analysis serves as an excellent means of increasing students' vocabulary. Here, I have compiled a list of adjectives (many of them SAT-level words) that can be used to describe a character. Students can select words from this list and use them to analyze and describe characters either in discussion or in writing. This list will help students to push beyond their current vocabulary by introducing them to new words that will not only help their analysis in class but simultaneously prepare them for the SAT! Words on this list have been categorized according to a common meaning, which will help students take risks in identifying potential new words and taking risks with new vocabulary. Note-- This is an excellent tool for English Language Learners as well!

This listing is for a characterization activity in which students analyze how a character's weaknesses impact the story as a whole. This mini-lesson is part of the Mega Characterization Bundle of over 15 characterization mini-lessons that get your students working with all literary devices and techniques. You can find it listed separately in our store. Bundle and save over $15.00! Task To analyze how a character’s weaknesses impact the story Objectives To develop criteria for analyzing character To assess comprehension of character development across a text To support analysis with textual evidence To assess how character traits affect literary elements To apply understanding of character to a new writing situation Common Core Standards R1-3, 6, 10, 11/ W1-4, 10-11/ SL 1, 4, 6/ L1-3 Instructions Characters often experience downfall as a result of a weakness, or inherent flaw. Oftentimes, this flaw is pride or hubris; nonetheless, the protagonist makes mistakes and faces conflicts as a result of this overweening weakness. This series of activities asks students to analyze how a character’s weakness affects literary elements such as characterization, plot, and conflict and to consider how the consequences of a character’s actions determine whether or not a protagonist accomplishes his/her goal in the story. The lead activity included here asks students to exploit a protagonist’s weakness by sensationalizing it in a tabloid article. This activity will get students thinking about the negative aspects of a character and how they cause issues for him/her in the story. The “follow-up” activities include a tabloid article swap in which students respond to each other’s interpretation of the protagonist’s weakness, an exploratory exercise that asks students to analyze the cause/ effect relationship of character weakness and mistakes, and finally a shaping sheet for a synthesis paragraph in which students analyze the protagonist based upon his/her weakness. Essentially, the goal of this series of activities is to “assassinate” the character of a protagonist. Note that you may or may not want to use the paragraph shaping sheet with your students. It is typically effective with students that struggle with writing in general. You may want to simply have your students respond to the prompt by writing/ typing their own paragraph to submit instead of using the shaping sheet. But use your own discretion according to the needs of your students.

This bundle consists of 15+ multi-lesson activities to get your students involved in analyzing one of the key literary elements: characterization. In fact, all other elements and techniques generally revolve around characterization, so by working with your students to analyze character, they will also be exposed to these other devices. This bundle is divided into two sections: “Series Activities” and “Characterization Quick-picks.” The first section is organized according to a “lead activity” that corresponds to follow-up activities. Each “lead activity” contains a “Teacher Page” that gives instructions and tips for implementation along with the Task, Objectives, Common Core Standards, and an Optional Do Now Activity. Each “lead activity” is followed by a series of activities that are designed to stem from the “lead activity” although several of the follow-up activities can be used in isolation on their own. Each of these “follow-up” activities requires students to further explore characterization and finally to synthesize their findings into some kind of writing or presentation. This bundle is organized by “lead” activities that mostly include the following documents: Teacher Page, Lead Activity, Exploratory Activity, Interactive Activity, and Synthesis Activity (not necessarily in that order). You as the teacher can decide which activities will best fit the needs of your students and your curriculum and use them accordingly. The second section of this bundle contains “Characterization Quick-picks,” which are a series of single characterization lessons that you can use in isolation with any piece of literature or in conjunction with any of the more structured lesson series in section one of the booklet. These “grab and go” activities are particularly useful on those days when you need a quick lesson that is aligned to the Common Core. There are enough activities in this bundle to make characterization the entire focus of your curriculum. Use the multiple times throughout the year with different pieces of literature, or work through each activity as the year progresses. Each of these activities is sold separately in my store. Bundle and save over $15.00! Happy character analysis!

Given all of the tragic events that have happened in our world and continue to happen in our world, I have compiled a reading list of 75 texts for grades 6-12 about DIVERSITY, RACISM, INCLUSION, TOLERANCE, and MULTICULTURAL AWARENESS. I truly believe that it is crucial to our world that we diversify our students' reading experiences beyond the standard cannon because it's only when we are able to have experiences with people different from us that we can begin to understand those differences and not fear them. I spent many hours researching the texts on this list. The list contains poems, speeches, plays, novels, and essays that address issues such as bullying, racism, LGBTQ, learning differences, and cultural identity (African American, Asian American, Mexican American, and many others). Each text is hyperlinked on the list to Amazon and/or a website where you can either find the text or read about it. Please note that some texts are more suitable for 6th-7th grades while others are only suitable for 12th grade. Please vet these texts according to the grade you teach and appropriateness for your school community and student body. The great thing I discovered by creating this list was that it was DIFFICULT keeping the list down to just 75 texts. There are SO MANY awesome texts out there about these issues, which is a great problem to have. Now, we just need to get them into our classrooms. This document also contains a list of web resources where you can find even MORE READING LISTS and lesson plans for teaching on the importance diversity. I truly hope that you are able to use this product this year in your classroom. And I'd love to hear feedback of any texts that I absolutely MUST ADD to the list. I am always looking for ways to expand reading lists for my students and can't wait to integrate some of these pieces this year. I feel that as teachers we are the harbingers for creating peace in our world, and we bear the responsibility of showing our students that we are all part of the "human family." It is only through education that the violence can end.

In light of recent tragedies that continue to occur in our nation and around the world, I have created a series of Diversity Lessons to increase cultural awareness within our classrooms. All of these lessons are FREE resources for teachers to use. Positive feedback is always appreciated! In this activity, there are a series of quotations about diversity to read with your students. After viewing the quotations, give each student a piece of paper and have them create their own quotations about the importance of diversity and then hang them around the classroom. This activity also makes an excellent icebreaker activity at the beginning of the school year!

This activity can go with any text centered upon diversity and/or inclusion. Students will answer some pre-reading questions about their prior knowledge and experiences with diversity and inclusion and then complete a close reading of the selected text. Finally, they will write a paragraph analysis of the text and then think about how they can show appreciation for diversity and inclusion in their own lives. Given the recent tragedies that have rocked our world, it is important to me to share lessons that can help us become more tolerant and peaceful as a "human family." Positive feedback is always appreciated.

This is a rubric for a Literary Analysis that breaks down the points into 10 specific skills, including introduction/ conclusion paragraphs, thesis, topic sentences, textual evidence, analysis, style, organization, grammar, MLA, and following directions. I have assigned point values to each of the skills (which you can change according to your students' needs). This rubric is very comprehensive and provides explicit feedback for revision purposes without your having to write substantial notes throughout the essay-- all you need to do is circle away. This is an excellent rubric that you can adapt for your classroom purposes. Side note: As a rule in my classroom, I approach writing as an ongoing process. That means that after students turn in the "final draft," I allow my students to revise/ rewrite and resubmit the essay for a maximum of half the points back to 100. That means, if their initial score was a 70, for example, they can revise/rewrite and resubmit for a MAXIMUM score of an 85. I know this sounds very tedious; however, I give out explicit directions for resubmission, and any deviation from those directions disqualifies the essay for resubmission. Mainly, I require that students turn in the original essay with original rubric and the new, revised copy with all new changes highlighted. This way, I can simply check to see if they revised/ rewrote sections that needed further attention. In this way, my grading philosophy entails that I grade for quality on the first submission and effort on the second revision. It is in this way that I can communicate to my students that writing is a skill and an art that takes practice and that I do not expect perfection (because who's perfect?); instead, I expect effort, and I expect growth. Give it a try and see what happens!

Find this mini-lesson as part of our Literary Analysis MEGA BUNDLE, sold separately! Bundle and save! This mini-lesson introduces students to blending quotations using the TCS method. This method asks students to integrate quotations into their own sentences with a transition that smoothly moves the reader into the evidence and then also includes the context/ speaker for the quotation to help the reader recall the quotation from the original text. I use this method with my students throughout the year to guide their revisions. My students bring their drafts to class, and they take turns labeling the "TCS" for each quotation. This method is very approachable and an essential tool for the Writer's Toolbox.

This listing is for Mini-lesson #1 of my Literary Analysis Essay book-- sold separately. For this activity, students read and analyze three sample student literary analysis essays using a ratiocination guide. They ratiocinate for the parts of the essay along with higher level vocabulary. They then answer reflection questions aimed at introducing students to the literary analysis essay. This is an excellent activity for introducing students to the literary analysis essay. Students need to be exposed to a variety of sample essays before they begin writing one. These essays can serve as models for students throughout the writing process. Answer keys included!

This listing is for two mini-lessons found in our mega Literary Analysis Essay bundle-- sold separately! In these mini-lessons, students answer anticipatory questions about the literary analysis essay and then compare/ contrast their responses with introductory notes on this mode of writing. Students then use the rubric to grade three sample literary analysis essays to get acclimated with how their essays will be graded. I have included my scores for the three sample essays along with explanations for where I took points off-- according to the 10-point Literary Analysis Rubric included. These lessons are an excellent way to introduce your students to the purpose, function, and format of the literary analysis essay!

This lesson contains a step-by-step guide for how to write a thesis statement for the literary analysis essay. It is a part of our Mega Lit. Analysis Essay Bundle, sold separately. The most important part of the writing process is crafting the thesis statement because it is the "road map" or "blueprint" for the entire essay. Because this one, single sentence is so important, I have crafted six mini-lessons to insure that your students will have focused, argumentative thesis statements specifically for the literary analysis essay. While the literary analysis essay is a type of persuasive or argumentative essay, it is important that students craft a thesis statement that is specific to the purpose of literary analysis. In this regard, lessons on persuasive or argumentative thesis statements may not be appropriate to teaching students how to write this kind of essay that is a cornerstone of the ELA classroom. This mini-lesson pack takes students through the process of learning the parts of a literary analysis thesis statement and how to craft them by creating thematic claims. By following this guide, students will be well on their way to creating effective "road maps" to write the literary analysis essay.

This series of mini-lessons can also be found in our Mega Literary Analysis Essay Bundle, sold separately. The introduction paragraph is arguably one of the most important paragraphs in any essay. It makes the first impression and establishes the focused purpose for the essay. These mini-lessons show students how to go from the attention-grabber (or lead) to the focused thesis statement in an effective way using student examples. No unit on the literary analysis essay is complete without these mini-lessons that will help students set the purpose and direction for a piece of writing on interpreting a work of art.

In this mini-lesson, students learn about the parts of the body paragraph for writing an essay. Students read about the purpose of the body paragraph and then ratiocinate three student sample paragraphs. This is an excellent mini-lesson to introduce students to the body paragraph, OR use this mini-lesson to review with your students. Pair this lesson with our follow-up lessons on topic and concluding sentences, selecting and blending evidence, and writing commentary/ analysis. You can also find this mini-lesson as part of our Literary Analysis Essay Mega Bundle, sold separately. Bundle and Save!

This mini-lesson teaches students how to craft the topic and concluding sentences of body paragraphs-- specifically for the literary analysis essay-- by using key words and phrases that connect to the thesis statement. You can find this mini-lesson as part of our Literary Analysis Mega Bundle. Bundle and save!