Topic: How characters change over time
Common Core State Standards:
· CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
· CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3: Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
Objective: Students will be able to understand how characters change over time.
Materials:
· Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Procedure:
1. Lesson Introduction/Objective and purpose:
· Have students bring readers notebooks and pencils over to the carpet. Have students copy (read aloud section) teaching point into notebooks, put timeline on page, and stand up with their bats ready.
§ Teaching point: Readers understand that characters change over time.
§ Have students repeat “SWBAT: understand how characters change over time”
§ Have students sit down.
· “Today I want to talk about how characters change over time based on information we receive in the text. In your readers notebook, you will see a timeline. We are going to use this tool to track Auggie’s growth as a character from the first chapter “Ordinary” to the last chapter we read in his section “Names”. We can record the first chapter at the beginning of the timeline and the last chapter in the section at the end of the timeline.”
2. Teach and model:
· “To use the timeline, I would first think about what Auggie was like in the first chapter. I would think of one specific character trait that would describe him and mark that on the timeline in the beginning by chapter 1. I would describe Auggie as self conscious in the first chapter (write on timeline). Under that I would find a specific example in the text and write the quote under ‘self conscious’. The quote I would use as evidence is “But I know ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don’t get stared at wherever they go.” Pg. 3.”
· “Then I would continue reading until I found a part where Auggie changes. A couple chapters later, Auggie and Summer eat lunch together for the first time. Auggie starts coming out of his shell and opening up to her. I would say that Auggie is beginning to be confident and would record that down the timeline. I would then record my evidence below and say “on page 52 Summer and Auggie worked together to create a list of people that could sit with them at lunch, this showed Auggie growing and having conversations with others.”
· “Now I want you to think about the Halloween chapters. How would you describe Auggie? What evidence would you use to support this? Turn and talk with your partner to pick a character trait to add to your timeline and then discuss supporting evidence from the text (it does not need to be a specific quote since students do not have books in front of them).”
3. Independent Practice:
· “Using a timeline is a good tool to track how characters change over time and can help us understand characters based on new information from the text. Taking notes on a timeline can help us understand a character’s behavior/thinking/feelings throughout the story. You can choose to use this during independent reading.”
4. Assessment (How will you know the lesson has been successful?):
· You will be able to determine that the lesson was a success if students are able to participate in the lesson and provide a character trait for Auggie during Halloween with evidence.
Common Core State Standards:
· CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
· CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3: Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).
Objective: Students will be able to understand how characters change over time.
Materials:
· Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Procedure:
1. Lesson Introduction/Objective and purpose:
· Have students bring readers notebooks and pencils over to the carpet. Have students copy (read aloud section) teaching point into notebooks, put timeline on page, and stand up with their bats ready.
§ Teaching point: Readers understand that characters change over time.
§ Have students repeat “SWBAT: understand how characters change over time”
§ Have students sit down.
· “Today I want to talk about how characters change over time based on information we receive in the text. In your readers notebook, you will see a timeline. We are going to use this tool to track Auggie’s growth as a character from the first chapter “Ordinary” to the last chapter we read in his section “Names”. We can record the first chapter at the beginning of the timeline and the last chapter in the section at the end of the timeline.”
2. Teach and model:
· “To use the timeline, I would first think about what Auggie was like in the first chapter. I would think of one specific character trait that would describe him and mark that on the timeline in the beginning by chapter 1. I would describe Auggie as self conscious in the first chapter (write on timeline). Under that I would find a specific example in the text and write the quote under ‘self conscious’. The quote I would use as evidence is “But I know ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don’t get stared at wherever they go.” Pg. 3.”
· “Then I would continue reading until I found a part where Auggie changes. A couple chapters later, Auggie and Summer eat lunch together for the first time. Auggie starts coming out of his shell and opening up to her. I would say that Auggie is beginning to be confident and would record that down the timeline. I would then record my evidence below and say “on page 52 Summer and Auggie worked together to create a list of people that could sit with them at lunch, this showed Auggie growing and having conversations with others.”
· “Now I want you to think about the Halloween chapters. How would you describe Auggie? What evidence would you use to support this? Turn and talk with your partner to pick a character trait to add to your timeline and then discuss supporting evidence from the text (it does not need to be a specific quote since students do not have books in front of them).”
3. Independent Practice:
· “Using a timeline is a good tool to track how characters change over time and can help us understand characters based on new information from the text. Taking notes on a timeline can help us understand a character’s behavior/thinking/feelings throughout the story. You can choose to use this during independent reading.”
4. Assessment (How will you know the lesson has been successful?):
· You will be able to determine that the lesson was a success if students are able to participate in the lesson and provide a character trait for Auggie during Halloween with evidence.