Characterization Lesson Plan and Creative Writing Assignment: Add a Character

The following post is a little confusing if you don’t download this first.

It’s one thing to teach characterization in short stories and other literary pieces. In fact, I have a nice characterization chart (at the top of the aforelinked page), which will help you teach direct and indirect characterization in literature.

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Getting students to create characters in their own writing is taking it to the next level. Use this characterization lesson plan/creative writing assignment to teach how to create characters. It’s called Add a Character Writing Assignment.

You could probably figure the assignment out from just looking at the Add a Character graphic organizer, which is part of the 8 Simple Writing Assignments lesson plans I created and have used in an actual classroom with actual students.

Once you look at the organizer, the following example will make sense.


Slide1

Add a Character to “The Monkey’s Paw” Common Core Writing Assignment

Story: “The Monkey’s Paw”

Title of Scene: “The Monkey’s Paw Strikes Again”

Character Name: Blake the Bloke from Down Under – a former Australian Rules football player who tries his hand (and foot) at American football.

Attribute #1: Slippery-handed. His inability to catch footballs snapped directly to him makes him untrustworthy in end-of-game situations. For example, he might just drop the ball at the worst possible moment of a football game causing his team to lose in the most excruciating manner possible.

Attribute #2: He’s insecure and fears that punters don’t get the recognition they deserve. It’s this insecurity that leads him to a shaman, named Brutus Buckeye, who has cursed a wolverine paw, which has mistakenly been identified as a monkey’s paw by a certain Sergeant-Major named Morris.

Attribute #3: He’s anxious, which causes him to panic under pressure, which leads him to compounding the mistake of dropping a football by picking it up and trying to punt it even though there are 9 opposing defenders about to crush his sternum.

Attribute #4: He’s crafty. As a hedge in case something bad happens, he puts his own curse on the wolverine paw that anyone who causes his wish to go awry will suffer a dislocated hip.


Here’s an example story based on the above pre-writing.

And here are some fancy common core writing standards to show your administrator.

  • W.9-10.3 – Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
  • W.9-10.3b – Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.
  • W.9-10.3c – Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.
  • W.9-10.5 – Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of L.9-10.1-3.)
  • RL.9-10.3 Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

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