Characterization

Teaching Pre K-8, May 2001 by Manning, Maryann

Maryann Manning on

Teaching Reading

and Writing

Taking a closer look at characterization can improve students' reading comprehension and writing skills.

Characters in books make us laugh, cry and more. They provide readers with role models, refuge from unhappy situations, hope in hopeless situations and can change our lives. As a Nebraska farm girl, Spyri's Heidi gave me a world outside my own. I reread the book year after year and admired her strength. In the years that I taught fourth grade, my students loved the characters Lois Lenski and Beverly Cleary created. The power of fictional characters cannot be underestimated.

Rationale. Characterization, plot and an author's style are interdependent in good fiction. The study of characterization increases students' reading comprehension. When we gain insight into the lives of characters, we also become empathetic toward them. Studying how authors craft characters improves our fiction writing.

Lesson. Introductory statements to facilitate the discussion of characterization may include the following points:

(Primary students)

The people or animals in stories are the characters.

* All stories have characters.

* Authors create what characters do and what they think

* Authors can use a few or a lot of words to describe the characters in their books.

* Authors tell you about characters in different ways.

* When we write we try to create believable characters.

(Intermediate and middle school students)

* Characterization is the method the author uses to describe characters and their personalities.

* Realistic fiction characters usually have well-defined descriptions.

* Each reader has a personal response to a character that may be different from other readers.

* Authors often create many memorable characters.

* Characters often evolve and change between the beginning and ending of a story.

Demonstrations with texts

1 Read aloud a familiar introduction to a character in a piece of fiction. Review the story with your students by discussing how the characterization progresses. Choose questions from this list for a discussion about the character:

* Did the character change?

* What are the character's values?

* Why does the character act as he/she does?

* Which attributes of this character make him or her believable?

* Describe the relationship of the character to the other characters.

* What effect did the climax of the story have on the character?

* Why do you think the character is popular (or unpopular) with readers?

* How did the author develop the character through the story?

* Were you left with any unanswered questions about the character?

2 iscuss the length of different character descriptions with your students by comparing a fairy tale or fable (with only a few words like "the wicked stepmother" or "a fox"), a picture book (only a few sentences) and a then with longer piece of fiction (using extensive information).

3 Following the reading of a story that features a very powerful character, construct a chart with the class that includes the name, nationality, sex, age, birthplace, desires, problems, problem-solving abilities and the feelings that they felt for the character.

4 Read younger students an unfamiliar picture book with a strong character but make sure that you don't show them the illustrations while you are reading.

Then, ask your students to draw the character as they visualized him or her while they were listening to the story. Ask volunteers to share their pictures with the class before you reveal the illustrator's rendering.

Demonstrations by the teacher

1 With your students, develop a sketch of a realistic character. Brainstorm with the students the following attributes of the person: personality characteristics, actions, thoughts the character shares and words the character says. What is the character's desire/problem? What obstacles does the character face? Discuss with the class whether or not they feel that the character is believable and comes to life for the reader.

2 Share with the class a character sketch from your writers' notebook or excerpts about a character from a story that you've written. Share the thought processes that you went through as you wrote the story and developed the character.

Demonstrations by students

1 Ask pairs of students to find character descriptions in their favorite stories. Possible discussion topics include: How many sentences did the author use to describe the character? How many facts are in each sentence? Could you draw a picture of the character after reading a few paragraphs? Does analyzing this author's character description have implications for my writing?

2 Ask students to list their favorite characters, including notes as to why they developed a personal connection to these characters. Also ask them to list characters that did not appeal to them, along with notes voicing their reasons why. Guide a discussion based on their lists and create lists of popular and unpopular book characters. If the same name appears on both lists, talk about why we have different character preferences.