Title: Exploring Character Traits with Adjectives
Subject: Reading/Language Arts
Grade Level(s): 6–8
Duration: 3 (50 Minutes) Sessions
This introductory first lesson to a three day activity plan looks to have students "become" one of the major characters in the Woodsong novel. The students will create and describe the character traits that they and the characters possess using lists of accurate, powerful adjectives. In their small literature circles, each student will have the opportunity to explore their descriptions of the main characters in the novel and present their list of adjectives based on the “job” or responsibility they have volunteered for. Group recorders will save the teams information electronically to be posted on the class resource page or hard copies can be handed in at the end of this lesson which will allow the teacher to assess student work. On the following day, the worksheets will be returned to the team with comments either via the online posting or by hard copy. The students continue to work towards an end goal of a group presentation to be held on the third day. This lesson looks to develop social interactions with peer students, to discuss and explore concepts from the book, and generate ideas from the novel.
Instructional Plan
Materials
· Laptop Computer - Each student will have access to their own laptop computer with the Windows XP operating system, Microsoft Office Suite, an internet connection, Write:Out Loud text-to-speech software, CO:Writer word prediction software, and Draft Builder process writing software.
Assistive materials include customizable keyboards and mice (Braille included), text/graphic keyboard overlays, glare screens, and ergonomic cushions. The assistive materials are for students who may have difficulties operating a laptop. It is important to utilize the many options that are internally available within the Windows operating system. For instance, the graphics can be enlarged or reduced, the colors modified and adjusted, and the cursor can be set to options that aid the user in pointing and clicking.
Although not being used extensively in this introductory lesson, the Don Johnston assistive software products are designed to be easy-to-use and very effective for struggling writers. Write:Out Loud empowers students to write more effectively assisting in the designing of compositions and communication of knowledge or creative thoughts. Draft Builder employs a visual mapping organizer and a writing tool to assist students in properly planning and organizing their ideas before they write. In this introductory lesson, Draft Builder’s advanced organizer can be used to provide or activate background knowledge for students as needed and support memory enhancement and transfer. Finally, CoWriter is a word prediction application created for struggling writers to help expand their vocabulary and improve written expression. This software suite is especially good for students with dyslexia, autism, and students with learning disabilities and can provide options for perception, language, understanding, executive functions, expressive skills and fluency, and engagement.
· Computer projector – The teacher can present learning materials to the entire class using a number of different formats, including movies, presentations, images, and sounds.
· Each student will borrow one copy of the novel from the school library. The class can access large print formats, audio tapes, and Spanish versions, as needed. Children with reading difficulties, English-language learners, and students struggling with comprehension will benefit from these alternatives.
· Chart paper and markers – These materials should always be present within a UDL designed classroom as they can be effective expression tools for many kinds of students, including those who struggle with presenting material orally.
· Hard copies of the:
o Identifying Character Traits instructions
o Character Traits Worksheet
o Become a Character Assignment
o Print copies of dictionaries and thesauruses to supplement online reference tools.
o Character traits and adjectives sample lists
These materials are available on the class resource page and can be sent to a printer. Some children may prefer to work with hard copies as they may find the laptop too difficult to maneuver or have a difficult time typing with the keyboard. As the goal of this assignment is not dependent upon computer skills, students can opt for which medium they want to use.
Preparation:
1. Students have read a substantial portion of the novel and have discussed the relative strengths, weaknesses, and attributes of various characters. The class is familiar with the novel and the material on the class online resource page.
2. Students have chosen and are familiar with their role or job within the literature team.
3. Make hard copies of all the worksheets and handouts.
Method:
1. (7 minutes) Introduce F. Scott Fitzgerald quotation, "Action is character," taken from one of Fitzgerald's journals. Ask students to discuss what Fitzgerald means and how the underlying idea connects to literary characters in their recent reading. The teacher should be using an internet connected laptop connected to the projector. Using Microsoft Word, the teacher should type the quote in large bold face type. While asking the class to comment on what this quote means, toggle to the internet explorer application and go to the Visual Thesaurus Website, http://www.visualthesaurus.com/ Type in the word “character” into the site’s search window. The program will create an impressive word list (See Figure 1) that will assist in the class discussion. Continue to lecture using the Fitzgerald quote as your anchor.
Figure 1. Screen Shot of Visual Thesaurus
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2. (3 Minutes) The students “wake up” their laptops and are instructed to connect to the class resource page, click on the Identifying Character Traits worksheet. For students who are not using the laptop, hand out the hard copy of the worksheet.
3. (5 Minutes) With the teacher demonstrating on the class projector, walk the students through the process of filling in the blanks on the worksheet using the computer. Remind the students that the text-to-speech software can be used at any time. However, the use of earphones may be important to maintain appropriate classroom volume as some students can easily get distracted with too many noises. Have the class try this process and walk around the class to provide one-on-one assistance, accordingly. Have the students who are not using a laptop look on with a classmate who is. Although they have chosen to not use the laptop, the more exposure they get to the system may help them become more familiar and comfortable with the idea of trying it.
4. (10 Minutes) The next step is to introduce the students to adjectives. From the class resource page, have the students click on the guide to grammar and writing link. For students not working on the laptops, have them open the provided grammar textbooks as a reference. Using the class projector, take a moment to read specific material from the site. Then, have the class finish the reading using the text-to-speech software as necessary. The material from the Web site is similar to the information from the hard copies.
5. (10 minutes) Share the list of character traits that the teacher and class created earlier in step 3 and use them as a sample list of adjectives for students to refer to as they work.
There is another sample character traits list available at the class resource page. Have each student go to the link and click on it. Once the word list is opened, ask the class who would like to create a sentence around any one of these words. Allow four children to voluntarily answer and record them into the character traits chart. Try to choose four children who typically present their knowledge differently (one child may draw two pictures of the words, another may simply use text on the whiteboard, and another may verbally say the sentence). Use these answers to highlight the main points of the lesson and to define in more detail the relationships between adjectives and character traits.
6. (5 minutes) Have the students work through this computer procedure along with you on the laptop to demonstrate how to save and print their answers. If kids are having a tough go at it, reduce their anxiety by providing one-on-one assistance.
7. (10 minutes) In their collaborative, literature teams, have students complete their in-class assignment using the character traits for one character from the reading together using the Character Traits Chart. This part of the lesson is focusing on exploring the connections between a character and the actions that the character takes (or doesn't) in specific situations presented in the novel. The worksheets will be recorded by a voluntary student. As a way to help children who need visual representation or syntax clarification, use the projector to display helpful hints and a checklist of what the group needs to complete by the end of the lesson and how long they should spend on each task using the teacher laptop.
8. Circulate among students, providing feedback and help as necessary.
9. Have the reporter print out the completed worksheet and hand it in to the teacher for assessment purposes.
Assessment: To measure student progress in this lesson, I am using formative and summative assessments. Formative assessments, such as the online vocabulary and reading comprehension quizzes are designed to allow for daily and feedback from the teacher. These can be taken continuously by the student throughout the entire unit. The quizzes are compatible with the assistive technology software and enable struggling readers, English-language learners, and vision impaired persons to access. The scores do not “affect” the students overall grade, in hopes of recruiting more students to use the quizzes several times throughout the curriculum. However, the scores are documented and help the teacher continually assess their instructional strategies. The students are asked to record their answers into their personal learning journals. They are also asked to post comments on the class resource page in response to online discussion questions presented by the teacher.
For this lesson, the summative assessment is based on the completed literature team worksheet. The teacher will have the ability to see how the students were working together to learn about adjectives and character traits. As this is an introductory lesson, much of the assessment is based on whether the student’s present basic knowledge of adjectives and understand the concept of character traits. This knowledge will be the foundation for a more in depth look into sentence structure and organized writing skills in the upcoming weeks.
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