2 - Character Study

This unit will teach readers to pay close attention to characters as they read. While it will be the first unit on character study, it is not the only study of characters second graders will do this year. As the first, it will support foundational work in retelling across longer text, thinking about how characters respond to events and challenges, along with thinking about character’s feelings throughout the turns of the text. Through this close work on with characters, readers will “ask and answer who, what, where, when, why and how” (CCS 2.1) to show their understanding of the key details within the text. Readers will practice walking in the characters shoes, taking on the events and challenges their characters face, and using this thinking to make predictions and read with intonation and fluency based on the mood and tone of the story.

The work of this unit will set readers up to “describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges” (CCSS 2.3), pulling together story elements so that the reader is able to see and describe what the character wants or needs and how the main events laid out across story elements play a role in helping them get what they want or need in the end.

Digital text is utilized numerous times across the unit of study (CCSS 2.7). Readers, and teachers, alike will likely find this work engaging, as long the necessary technology to access the short stories on-line, exists. Digital text is not new to these readers; they have had lots of experience with this genre through television, cinemas, computers and most recently, phones and tablets. Here, the unit builds in vibrant storytelling, digitally, to give readers the opportunity to closely observe characters as they work their way through life events and struggles. Building digital text into read aloud with accountable talk and other content areas will assist readers in seeing that the same strategies they use to understand shows and movies are transferable to the meaning making they do in print text and vice-versa.

Partnerships will play an essential role in helping readers use their thinking and jotting to talk more to other readers about like characters. Readers will gain more from conversation with peers if readers reading J level books and higher are paired in “like-titled” partnerships (The unit works best if every reader is paired in like-titles, but it is essential for deeper conversation at higher levels). This means, readers are reading the same books, ideally. This way, partners can support each other as they progress through the character study, together. Readers will come to see that they are thinking and jotting in order to talk with their partner. They will prepare for these conversations knowing that their partner is doing the same, within the same text. This way, partners can share conversation and understanding but also push each other to ideas other than their own, ultimately growing understanding.

Readers will learn to think about the point of view of multiple characters as they practice reading aloud in the voice of their characters and role playing scenes from their stories (CCSS 2.6). This work adds to the celebration that culminates the unit where readers share their reading and role-playing with classmates or schoolmates through Character Study Readers’ Theater.

The unit consists of 17 lessons, with lesson 17 as the unit celebration, leaving room for teachers to adjust and teach content needed based on observations and assessments of the work. The suggested length for the unit is 4 to 5 weeks based on individual pacing and student needs. Pre-assessment in the form of a read aloud story with strong character and four stopping places where jotting, related to unit objectives, is posed and collected from readers will help teachers gauge what line of work will require more time or differentiation. The assessment, using the same read aloud story and questions for jotting can be utilized again at the end of the unit.

Essentially, anything taught in unit one that can be attached to the work of unit two helps build readers repertoire of strategies. Make sure to pull from the work of unit one, where appropriate, to keep partnerships rolling with routines and to continually layer the work for each reader. Readers should continue to settle into their reading and grow reading minutes, if necessary. Holding onto the assessment checklist from unit one as you step into unit two will help keep track of readers who might still need additional teaching in small groups or conferences with concepts from unit 1.

While the information contained here is not related to Unit Level Standards, important information related to UDL is included for your reference.

What is Universal Design for Learning (UDL)?

UDL is a research-based framework that focuses on proactive design and delivery of curriculum, instruction and assessment. UDL provides opportunities for every student to learn and show what they know, with high expectations for all learners.

Each student learns in a unique manner so a one-size-fits-all approach is not effective. UDL principles create options for how instruction is presented, how students express their ideas, and how teachers can engage students in their learning. (NY DOE)

© CAST, 2013

UDL
Universal Design for Learning

1. How and why do readers make inferences about characters?
2. How and why do readers compare and contrast the characters in their stories?
3. How and why do readers collect and organize and post-its?
4. How do readers retell their stories to partners?
5. How do readers share what they’re thinking about their characters?

Concept I: Readers know characters have wants and problems and think about them across their text.

Session 1 Readers make predictions about characters wants and problems by thinking and using the title, pictures, book blurb and chapter titles before beginning their reading.

Session 2 Readers add to their thinking about the problem from their prediction as they read forward.

Session 3 Readers predict how characters will solve the problem a character faces by thinking about the characters traits and feelings and asking, “What would I do if I had this problem?”

Session 4 Readers confirm or revise their predictions by reading forward

Session 5 Readers keep track of characters actions leading up to the problem and through the solution by lining up post-its in order to learn more about their character and retell the story.

Session 6 Readers make sure details and scenes fit together by rereading if meaning breaks down.

Concept II: Readers distinguish between their characters’ traits and feelings and use their knowledge to describe and understand their characters

Session 7 Readers use specific words to describe their characters by referring to text.

Session 8 Readers track characters feelings by jotting on timelines in notebooks how characters feel from beginning to end.

Session 9 Readers notice when their characters do something surprising or out of character by stopping and saying “What? This is not like the character I know. Why is he\she acting this way?”

Concept III: Readers use their thinking about their characters to find deeper meaning in books.

Session 10 Readers listen to their partners ideas and add more to those shared ideas by asking, “Why would…?” and ” Would you?” to create new thinking about characters from their conversation.

Session 11 Readers share their opinions about their characters by telling others what they think about their character and what they think about their character’s behaviors.

Session 12 Readers prepare for their partner by jotting notes and gathering thoughts before they meet with their partner.

Session 13 Readers talk about the important parts of their stories by paying attention to the strong feelings/emotions of their characters so they can think about what the story is really about.

Session 14 Readers catch the changes their characters make by jotting a quick note where they see the character changing and compare their post-its from beginning of the text to the end of the text with a partner.

Session 15 Readers not only learn about their characters, we learn from our characters by asking, “What has my character learned that will help me in my life?”

Session 16 Readers show they understand their characters by reading aloud using the mood and the tone of the character’s traits and feelings and role playing scenes from their stories.

Session 17 Celebration: Perform reading aloud and role playing of scenes from favorite stories.