Rena Toutounji

SCED 663 Advanced Trends

Assignment #3: Content Area Teaching Ideas
Dr. Cynthia J. Benton and Prof. Craig Kapp

Part 1: Research on Current Trend

Introduction:

After earning my bachelors degree and masters degree in English Literature
from the American University of Beirut (AUB), I became an educator. Last summer, I
earned a TESOL certificate (Teaching English as a Second Language), and Im
earning my second Masters in TESOL from The College of New Jersey this summer
(2015). I have been teaching English, English as an Additional Language (EAL), and
humanities in middle and high school at Lincoln Community School in Accra, Ghana
for five years.
Literacy is comprised of oral, reading, and writing fluency. In English and
EAL, I concentrate on literary elements to analyze text. A significant literary element
for students to learn is character analysis. I have chosen three websites that consist of
lesson plans that deal with characterization.
http: www.readwritethink.org
Action is Character: Exploring Character Traits with Adjectives
http: www.storyboardthat.com
Character Mapping The Boys from Camp Green Lake
http: www.scholastic.com

Analysis:
Traci Gardners lesson in readwritethink.com is designed for students to
analyze character using strong word choice. The Common Core Standards that are
covered for grade 7 are key ideas and details in reading, research to build and present
knowledge, comprehension and collaboration, and vocabulary acquisition and use.
Resources include copies of text, technological tools, a dictionary or thesaurus, and
worksheets (Identifying Character Traits, Become a Character, and Sample Character
Traits). Students have an option of looking up meanings of words in the Mirriam
Webster Online Dictionary or using a thesaurus using Tools on Word. The objectives
for the lesson are to review the use of adjectives, define character trait and provide
evidence for inferences, use online dictionaries to learn better word choice, and
emulate a character with the character list as a guide.
The estimated time for this lesson targeted for 6th-8th graders is three 50minute sessions. The first session is an introduction where the teacher begins with
Fitzgeralds journal, Action is Character in order to draw a connection with
characters from the books that they are currently reading. The teacher defines
character traits and shows them a visual of stick figures performing actions that reveal
character traits. Students learn to differ between direct characterization (the author
directly telling the reader the character traits) and indirect characterization (the author
showing these traits in action). The purpose of the introductory lesson is for students
to make inferences or draw conclusions based on evidence from the text. Students
have an option of completing the graphic organizer that divides actions and character
traits they reveal on a handout or interactively on a computer.
The second session is for pairs of students to find adjectives using reference

books (dictionary or thesaurus). Then, the task is to choose a character from the
book to become, by listing ten adjectives and then creating three other characters
with ten descriptive adjectives (steps are not clearly stated on the task sheet). Other
students must guess who the character is. Gardner states an informal formative
assessment should be used for this lesson and the teacher must circulate among pairs
to check if they are on task for every activity. The goal is for students to make
inferences, use strong word choice, and understand character traits. The trend in this
assignment is in individual needs and calls for critical thinking but minimal creativity.
On the other hand, Emy Lopezs lesson plan in www.scholastic.com is a
lesson plan for 6th to 8th graders that requires more creativity and critical thinking.
Students learn to analyze characters using various literary terms. The objectives are
to empathize with a character, understand the difference between direct and indirect
characterization, identify the complications and conflicts that the protagonist faces,
and recognize the role of motivation. Common Core Standards are not listed for this
task. Teachers begin the lesson with an introduction to literary elements plus
definitions in a worksheet. The second step is to read the short story La Bamba by
Gary Soto and have a class discussion about the literary elements. In step three, a
teacher could informally assess his or her students orally to check for understanding.
After the model lesson, students use a text that they have read and complete the
Character Analysis Chart in groups or on their own (step 4).
The fifth step is to introduce a Character T-shirt and then show an example.
The final step is for students to create their shirts in class or at home. On Character Tshirt day, students can celebrate their artwork and character analysis by dressing up in
their T-shirts. Lopez suggests different activities like acting out a scene, posting a

picture on the Class Homepage, and creating a poem about the character.
Finally, the third lesson, taken from the teacher guide in StoryboardThat, also
follows the trend in creativity and critical thinking to a minimal extent. The target
level is grades 4 and 5, but this lesson can be adapted for beginner English Language
Learners (ELLs). The activity is called, Character Mapping the Boys from Camp
Green Lake! (activity for Holes ), The ELA-Literacy Common Core Standards are
listed for this activity. This technological tool allows ELLs to keep a reference log of
all the characters in a novel (physical appearance and traits, importance of character,
and his/her relation to curse).
The common trend among the three lesson plans is in individual needs,
particularly in creativity and critical thinking. Becoming a Character activity
teaches a student to empathize and understand a character in a literary text. Thinking
from the perspective of three distinct characters enables a learner to be better prepared
for character analysis. The lesson plan in Scholastic is definitely more creative and
provides food for thought. StoryboardThat is a fun, interactive technology tool, but
the graphic organizer was quite limited.

Part II: New Teaching Idea or Trend

1) Define
A new approach to this topic, which would fall under the trend in individual
needs, is social-emotional learning (SEL) through the use of concept maps,
technological tools, and cooperative learning strategies. Roger P. Weissberg and
Jason Cascarino described SEL as a process that students learn to acquire and
effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and
manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others,
establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions (2013).
In order for students to improve their SEL, it ought to be embedded in the curriculum,
especially in Language Arts. Research shows that reading literary fiction improves
empathy.
My school, Lincoln Community School (LCS), follows the International
Baccalaureate (IB) program. SEL is promoted through the IB learner profiles, which
are often taught explicitly during advisory time, middle school assemblies, and after
school activities. However, my objective is to incorporate SEL in the Language Arts
curriculum.
2) Instructional Strategies
My new approach for character analysis for literary texts incorporates SEL. I
agree with researchers who argue that students learn empathy by reading more
literature. It is important for middle school students to be able to identify with
teenage characters and learn from their mistakes or heroic deeds. The objective is to
create an inquiry based and student-centered lesson plan that is meaningful, authentic,
and engaging.

The three lesson plans that I discussed in Part I consist of interesting ideas that
I could use for teaching characterization in a story. Eventually, the goal is for students
to learn about character development through social-emotional learning. The
introduction lessons in both websites state the objectives clearly. Students must learn
to define character traits and differentiate between direct and indirect characterization.
On the other hand, Lopezs introduction lesson goes deeper into a character analysis
by also focusing on static versus dynamic characters as well as it including the
definitions of internal versus external conflicts, complication, and motivation that a
character must deal with. Another introduction that I would use is a short video on
making inferences on Youtube and a Modern Family episode showing conflict.
The graphic organizers in readwritethink.com and Scholastic enable students
to mind map and classify ideas for Holes and The Giver in order for them to begin
thinking about character development. On the other hand, my approach would be to
introduce the students to concept maps, such as bubblz.com, www.lucidchart.com or
Google Docs (filedrawing) to map out the character traits that describe the
character with evidence from the text. First, I would show them an example before I
randomly assign students in pairs. After students create a concept map, they can
further elaborate by filling out the chart below in small groups of threes or fours.
They could either do this on chart paper or via Google Docs.

Physical Description

Action/Behavior

Quote from the text and page number:

Quote from the text and page number:

Dialogue/speech

Narration

Quote from the text and page number:

Quote from the text and page number:

As for the third lesson in StoryboardThat, the graphic organizers were uncreative. A
fun formative task that would work well for EAL students would be a comic app
called phrase.it or they have the option of sketching and coloring a storyboard on
chart paper.
In readwritethink.com, one of the objectives was to teach students better word
choice about character traits. The resources and methods as I described in Part 1 were
quite conventional. Research shows that students do not learn vocabulary words by
simply looking up words in Merriam Webster dictionary and memorizing the
meanings or putting them into meaningful sentences. In what was supposed to be an
interactive lesson, Becoming the Character, students had to list ten adjectives that
would describe the characters they became. My spin on this would be to use
vocabgrabber.com that would map out related words or synonyms to a word.
The lessons are scaffolded with regards to concept maps, enriching
vocabulary, and collaborative work. Again, the main approach is the social-emotional
learning that I plan to incorporate in character analysis. I found an interesting lesson
in Edutopia. Vogel gives an example about The Giver, a novel that I teach in seventh

grade English. She suggests a strategy called Heads Together for students to talk
about their feelings in relation to the reading. They can begin by asking the basic
reading comprehension questions using the 5Ws question model and then move on to
more complex class discussions that involve critical thinking. Vogel gives another
example of an SEL lesson. If, in their language arts class, theyre reading a story
where the main character is having a conflict with somebody, you can say, What do
we have here? We have a conflict. Did the character deal with it the right away?
How do you think these characters are feeling? (2008). These types of questions
initiate productive class discussions if strategies are put in place.
I would use the fishbowl activity, whereby a small group of students sit in the
inner circle and discuss relevant questions about the conflicts that characters deal
with. The students in the outer circle may not engage in the discussion. One student
in the outer circle could be the reporter of the flow of the conversation while the rest
of the students in the outer circle listen to the dialogue. They could observe and take
notes about the verbal and non-verbal communication as students engage in a
discussion about the characters. I expect the students to have a heated exchange as
they move on to personal examples about how they would act in similar experiences.
After a thirty-minute discussion, the class can be divided into smaller groups of four
or five in order for the observers to ask for clarification on comments, but they are not
allowed to judge the fishbowl students. Then after thirty minutes, the whole class
regroups and has a discussion about how the fishbowl students felt about the
discussion and whether the observers found it challenging to remain passive in the
discussion.

References
Gardner, T. (n.d.). Action is Character: Exploring Character Traits with Adectives.
Retrieved July 16, 2015, from http://www.readwritethink.org/.../action-characterexploring-character-175.html Lopez, E. (n.d.). Responding to Literature: Character
Analysis. Retrieved July 16,
2015, from http://www.scholastic.com/.../responding-literature--characteranalysis
Ray, R. (n.d.). Character Mapping: Put a Face to the Name with a Character Map!
Retrieved July 16, 2015.
Weissberg, R., & Cascarino, J. (2013, October 1). Academic Learning Social
Emotional Learning = National Priority: Policy Makers Need to Understand
What Researchers and Educators Already Know: Social-Emotional Learning
Helps Create More Engaging Schools and Prepares Students for the Challenges
of the W. Phi Delta Kappan, 8-13.