Lesson Overview

The purpose of the lessons in this unit is to help Ohio students in grades 3-7 learn the characteristics of the literary text Character Development indicators that they must master for their respective Ohio achievement tests. Special care has been taken to dovetail the lessons with the indicators and the types of questions commonly asked on Ohio tests. The lessons are divided into two sections: Grades 3-4 and Grades 5-7.

Ohio Academic Content Indicators

2001.EL.S05.GKG-03.BB.L03.I02  
Use concrete details from the text to describe characters and setting.

2001.EL.S05.G04-07.BA.L04.I01   
Describe the thoughts, words and interactions of characters.

Ohio Achievement/Proficiency Tests
Character Development Question Types

• Who is the main character?

Emotions

• Character X feelsEmotion Y. Give details from the story that show why the character was feeling Emotion Y.
• Quotation XXX from the selection describes Character X. Which word from the quotation tells how Character X is feeling?
• How does Character A feel at point B in the selection.
• How does a Character X feel (at the time of, about, after) Event X?

Thoughts/Actions/Behaviors/Attitudes/Motivations

• At Point Y in the selection, what makes Character X do Action Z?
• Pick out, list or web the things Character X does at Point Y in the selection.
• What did Character X do to make sure Event Y happened as s/he thought/wished it to happened?

Jesse Owens
Episode Overview

This episode is about the life of Jesse Owens. It interweaves fact, fiction, and tall tale. The episode begins when Jesse was a boy living on a farm and briefly tells of his move to Cleveland, joining a track team and becoming a champion runner at Ohio State University. The tall tale portion of the episode takes place during the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany.

Teachers will need to need to briefly build a background with their students if they have never been exposed to the United States’ history of the time period in which this episode takes place. Major historical events occurring during this episode are listed below.

Access this episode's Before Viewing and After Viewing discussion guides by downloading the complete unit guide.

Character Development Lesson

Materials:

• Student Handout “Exploring Your Main Character”
• Student Handout “Exploring Simon Harrington”
• A short story or passage that features a well-developed character.

Procedure:

1. Display the handout “Exploring Your Main Character”. Display the handout via computer, a projected image, or give each student a blank copy.
2. Discuss the main divisions of the character development on handout: Part 1. Character's name (the oval), Part 2. Physical description (the rectangle), Part 3. Conflict (the hexagon) and Part 4. Non-physical character traits (the trapezoid).
3. Whole class activity. Choose a story with which the students are familiar and have the students collaborate to fill in the “Exploring Your Main Character” based on what they know about the main character and the plot of that story.
1. Explain to the students that not everything in the chart happened or was described in the source story so they will need to think about the character and the story and then use their imaginations to complete the chart.
2. The story could be a selection which the students have read or listened to, a well known children’s book or story, a recent movie or media production with which they are familiar, etc.
3. Discuss how knowing how a character acts or behaves in known events can help readers/listeners/viewers to predict how they would probably behave in new events.
4. Fill “Exploring Your Main Character” for the selected story as a group and discuss the results.


4. Group Activity. Break the students into collaborative groups.
1. Tell the students that they will be creating a character totally from their own imaginations. One student may act as the recorder for the group’s ideas but each student should have a personal copy of the handout to which to refer. You may wish to give them a copy of the student handout “Exploring Simon Harrington” so that they can see a completed example. If there is not enough room on the handout to write all of the group’s ideas, students may write on a separate sheet of paper or use a computer’s word processing application.
2. Have the students share their work with their classmates.
3. Ask each group to come up with a new story event that is not already listed as an idea in Part 4, the trapezoid.
5. Individual Activity.
1. Each student will write a story based on the Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the handout “Exploring Your Main Character.” Explain that Part 4 tells how their character would react to a few events that could happen. Students will have the option of choosing one or more of the events listed – or they are free to create a new event(s) for their stories. 
2. Give each student a new copy of the “Exploring Your Main Character” handout to help them with their planning and organizing. Tell the students that they may use the handout as they choose. They may write brief notes on the handout, simply refer to the blank handout for ideas, or fill it in completely.
3. Write the stories. Stories may be written on paper, typed into computers, or told to scribes or recording devices. Differentiated instruction: Provide a scribe in the form of an older student, a classroom aid or volunteer, etc. to write for students who cannot write. Students could also dictate or tell their stories to a recording device.
4. Publish the stories. Completed stories can be bound into a classroom book, typed into a computer and uploaded to your school’s website, or told orally and recorded via video recorder to be turned into digital video images for emailing to parents or sharing via podcasts on the Internet.