Connect the character to a theme or idea

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2008 : April : 8

Connect the character to a theme or idea
By m&mTeach

I think one way of teaching it deeply is by connecting it to an idea or theme. During my "character" unit, I create a chart for each book I read. The chart had 3 columns with the headings: What the book says, What this says
about the character (trait), So an idea in this story might be . . .

As I was reading, I would stop at parts where the students had to do some inferring. For example, with the book, The Honest-to-Goodness Truth, I copied a sentence from the book that is similar to this in the first column: ". . . Her eyes were watery and her bottom lip quivered. She felt like she had swallowed

a handful of chicken feathers." I would ask what does this say about the character? (trait adjective) Guilty, Regretful, etc. I would write students responses in the second column. Then I would ask, "so this book might be about. . ." (idea noun) Regret, Guilt. I would write this in the third column. At the end of the book, we would reflect on the traits/ideas that were the most important in the book.

I spent quite a while on Eve Bunting books- her books are so rich with layered and deep characters. A great one is Sunshine Home. (These are all picture books though).

I hope this all makes sense. (I can't attach anything yet, otherwise, I'd post a picture of my chart).