Examining Characters: Close Reading

This lesson went so well! My students were really engaged throughout the lesson and made me proud. It was wonderful to see them discussing amongst each other and reverting back through their text (Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson) to find the evidence!

                                                   

I had them draw a quick sketch of how the envisioned the main character. Around their sketch they wrote down four-five words (character traits) that described what the character was like. Earlier in the year, we had a mini-lesson on character traits and it was awesome to see them pull out their interactive ela notebooks to reference the character trait list. Below the sketch they had to pull out a specific quote from the novel that supported each word. Most of my students were able to do this, however, I did have some students who struggled. I think they tend to get overwhelmed and didn't understand the process of scanning the book. I decided to have them stop and pair share with their partner what they wrote (I felt this would help those who may have been struggling).

The lesson continued with my students examining two of the supporting characters. You can check out the chart below for the questions.

I must say, this lesson really had my students thinking and constantly referring back to the text. As I walked around, I was able to quickly assess who needed extra support and who had it. Having them pull out quotes was a great way to have them use evidence from the text to support their statements/thoughts.

***I've been using a curriculum guide created by the amazing teachers at Curriculum Specialists blog.