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Lea M. Isbell
Characterization in The Scarlet Letter / 10-07-14

Stage 1 Desired Results

Established Goals:
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. [RL.9-10.3]

Student-Friendly Objective:
Use knowledge of direct and indirect characterization to create a complete profile of a character from the
story based on textual evidence.

Understandings:
Students will understand that...
Opinions about fictional characters and real people are formed based on that persons speech,
actions, and physical appearance, as well as what we are directly told about that person.
People can learn a great deal about a persons personality by observing that person and his or
her actions.

Essential Knowledge:
Students will know...
Characterization
Direct Characterization
Indirect Characterization
STEAL

Essential Skills:
Students will be able to...
Define characterization.
Determine the difference between direct and indirect characterization.
Find examples of characterization in the text.
Create a complete profile of a character using these examples.
Evaluate a characters personality.
Compose social media posts from the characters perspective.

Essential Question(s):
When meeting someone new, how do you learn more about that person?
How do a persons words and actions shape how others view that person?

Secondary Education Lesson Plan Template

Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook 2004

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Lea M. Isbell
Characterization in The Scarlet Letter / 10-07-14

Stage 2 Assessment Evidence

Performance Task(s):
N/A

Other Evidence:
Students will complete a bell ringer activity/entrance slip where they answer the following question:
When meeting someone new, how do you learn more about that person? They will answer on sticky
notes, which will be turned in at the end of class, as well as discussed orally. (formative)
Students will work in pairs to complete a full Twitter profile for their assigned character based on
examples of characterization found in the text. This profile will be taken up for a grade. (formative)
Students will complete an exit slip that refers to the most favorited tweet by answering the following
questions: What makes this tweet good? What do you learn about the character based on this tweet?
They will answer on sticky notes, which will be turned in at the end of class. (formative)
Teacher will monitor groups to assess student understanding. (formative)
Teacher will question students to assess student understanding. (formative)

Stage 3 Learning Plan

Materials Needed for the Lesson:

Teacher:
2 Different Color Pens per Group
1 Dry Erase Marker per Group
1 Paper Clip per Group
1 Large Sticky Note per Group
4 Medium Sticky Notes per Group
1 Tiny Sticky Note per Group
Instruction PowerPoint
Computer
Mimeo Board
Twitter Profile Worksheet
Classroom Copies of The Scarlet Letter
Students:
Material from Yesterdays Class

Bell Ringer: 3 minutes

Secondary Education Lesson Plan Template

Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook 2004

3
Lea M. Isbell
Characterization in The Scarlet Letter / 10-07-14
Students will answer the following question: When meeting someone new, how do you learn more about
that person? They will answer on sticky notes, which will be turned in at the end of class, as well as
discussed orally. [no accd.] (3 min)

Review of Relevant, Previously Learned Information: 3 minutes

Teacher will question students about characterization, asking the differences between direct and indirect
characterization and the five methods of indirect characterization. [no accd.] (3 min)

Introductory Activity: 4 minutes

Students will be asked to pretend that they found their characters profile on Twitter. In each pair,
students will create a unique screen name (@character) for their assigned character. While students are
brainstorming, teacher will pass out worksheet. [accd. ability grouping] (4 min)

Body of the Lesson: 48 minutes

Students will complete the About Me section of the Twitter worksheet by following the format included in
the instructional PowerPoint. Teacher will explain and answer any questions [no accd.] (10 min)
As a class, students will come together to brainstorm what trends might be popular on Twitter in the
context of the book and story. After brainstorming ideas, each pair will choose five to write in their trend
box on the worksheet. [no accd.] (5 min)
Students will then work in their pairs to compose six original tweets from the perspective of their
character using the material completed in class yesterday and the text for reference. At least two of the
tweets must interact with another character from the story, and at least two of the tweets must use
hashtags from the trending list. Students will use different colored pens to better encourage the equal
sharing of group responsibility. [accd. ability grouping, character summary, examples] (15 min)
Pairs will choose their best tweet, and one student from the pair will go write the tweet on the board,
placing the large sticky note on the left side of the tweet. [no accd.] (7 min)
Pairs will determine which tweet from those written on the board they want to favorite, and the other
student in that group will go to the board and use the small sticky note to favorite a tweet of their choice
by placing the small sticky note on the large sticky note next to the tweet. [no accd.] (3 min).
As a class, we will look at the favorited tweets and discuss them. Students will be asked why they
chose to favorite those tweets. [no accd.] (4 min)
Students will complete an exit slip that refers to the most favorited tweet by answering the following
questions: What makes this tweet good? What do you learn about the character based on this tweet?
They will answer on sticky notes, which will be turned in to the teacher. [no accd.] (3 min)
Students will be instructed to paper clip their worksheets from yesterday and today and leave them on a
desk at the front as they exit the classroom. Students will be instructed put their sticky notes into two
separate stacks (color coded) and hand them to me as they exit. [no accd.] (1 min)

Preview of the Next Lesson:

2 minutes

Secondary Education Lesson Plan Template

Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook 2004

4
Lea M. Isbell
Characterization in The Scarlet Letter / 10-07-14
Teacher will display the title of the next chapter and tell students that all four of the characters will be
present in the next chapter. Students will be asked to predict what might happen in this chapter based on
the title. [no accd.] (2 min)

Secondary Education Lesson Plan Template

Adapted from Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook 2004