EDUC 2220- Educational Technology Lesson Plan Template

Character Traits

Brandi Hesness
Third Grade Teacher/ Teach 4 Core Subjects- This lesson is Reading/Writing

Common Core Standards:

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading
-Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific
textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
-Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively,
as well as in words.*
-Read, comprehend, and respond to complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Writing
-Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and
relevant and sufficient evidence.
-Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task,
purpose, and audience.
-Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with
others.
-Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research
College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening
-Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners,
building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
-Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively,
and orally
-Evaluate a speakers perspective, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
-Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and
the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
-Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English
when indicated or appropriate.

Lesson Summary:
The purpose of this lesson is for students to be able to understand what a character trait is, be able to identify
character traits, and support their reasoning with examples from the text or media. The procedure will begin by
explaining what a character trait is and is not. The students need to know that a character trait is, They are
words used to describe how characters act during certain situations or what kind of people they are. Character
traits are sometimes described as good or bad, and everyone has them. You can even identify character traits in
characters you see in movies, TV shows, and books! (http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-character-
trait-definition-examples.html). Students will be provided with an initial opportunity to learn and understand
what character traits are through an activity utilizing PowerPoint to show them familiar characters and identify
their character traits. We will then move on to watching video clips and students will identify character traits as
well. Both instances, I will be utilizing technology to help students understand the concept and provide them
with the opportunity to give evidence for their thinking. This section will be done verbally in class. The
purpose of this is to provide students with the beginning tools of understanding the characters in books, how to
identify their traits, and eventually, how this effects the character, their story, and outcome. Students will then
read a book in class and be asked to take notes on the characters in the book and the traits they identify with
them and why, this will be turned in as well. On Day 2, students will be provided with a worksheet with a list
of the characters names and will be asked to identify two character traits and evidence. For their work,
students will be provided with a character trait list to assist them with this process.

Estimated Duration:

This lesson will take about two hours, possibly two and a half. Therefore, I will break the lesson into two days,
with each session lasting approximately one hour. Depending on the understanding I am seeing from students,
I may extend the lesson to three days due to their younger age. I want to ensure they remain engaged and fully
understand the concept.

Commentary:
My approach to this lesson is to introduce a character trait and what it is. I found this definition to be easily
understandable, They are words used to describe how characters act during certain situations or what kind of
people they are. Character traits are sometimes described as good or bad, and everyone has them. You can
even identify character traits in characters you see in movies, TV shows, and books! from
http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-character-trait-definition-examples.html. I want to provide my
students with examples. I think I can get them interested by utilizing a PowerPoint pictures and videos of
common characters my students will be familiar with and explain their character traits and why they are that
way. By providing students with familiar examples and by utilizing technology, I firmly believe it will make
this concept easier to understand and allow students to understand the importance of providing concrete
evidence. I do anticipate students listing words that are not character traits; therefore, I want to explain to my
students from the beginning of the lesson what character traits are not. I plan on doing this by using the same
pictures and media to allow them to grasp this concept. I plan on providing students with multiple
opportunities to utilize technology and engage with classmates to get them involved and interested.

Instructional Procedures:
.

Day 1:
First 5 minutes: Introduction to the concept of character traits. I will provide them with the definition on the
board that will remain written throughout the activity, They are words used to describe how characters act
during certain situations or what kind of people they are. Character traits are sometimes described as good or
bad, and everyone has them. You can even identify character traits in characters you see in movies, TV shows,
and books! (http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-character-trait-definition-examples.html). During this
time, students will listen and ask questions. Students will be provided with a Google Doc of a character trait
list to look off of.
5-20 minutes: I will show the PowerPoint of pictures of familiar characters to the class. I will be asking
students what they think their character traits are and why. Students will be answering and providing character
traits and explaining why they think this. These PowerPoint slides will also have what I think some of the
character traits are as well so students can use this to understand the concept better.
20-45 minutes: Next, I will continue to utilize the PowerPoint and show video clips of childrens movies with a
specific character who has obvious traits. We will repeat the activity and students will be answering, providing
character traits they think fit and why. I want to ensure I can engage the children as much as possible while
providing them opportunities to thoroughly understand what a character trait is through a familiar character
before moving on.
45-60 minutes: The class will read a selected story together, I believe Giraffes Cant Dance by: Giles Andreae
would be a great short book to start. I want to utilize a technological approach to the book. I want to use the
SmartBoard so students can come up, read, and underline things they find important. I will ask students to
utilize their laptops and take notes and provide evidence to me through an Excel document I provided them
with on Google Docs. These notes will be looked over to ensure students were following along and allows me
to see their thought processes. Looking at the notes will allow me to see where they are at with understanding
character traits.
Day 2:
First 15 minutes: We will be reviewing where the class left off on Day 1 with reading the book. The students
will re-read Giraffes Cant Dance in class aloud by taking turns on the SmartBoard.
15-45 minutes: I will provide students with a Google Docs worksheet that lists the characters names with
three blanks for them to identify character traits with room next to it for evidence. I want to give students
plenty of time to think of these traits and provide appropriate evidence to back up their thinking. Students will
work on their worksheets during this time. I will also be providing students with access to the book (I will
ensure there are multiple copies, ideally one per table group along with digital version) and dictionaries so
students can look up adjectives if they are unsure of the meaning. I also will provide them with links to an
online dictionary and thesaurus.
45-60 minutes: Once students are finishing their worksheets, I will ask students to share their answers and
reasonings. Students can then ask questions they may have.

Pre-Assessment:
It is critical to understand what an adjective is, since character traits are adjectives. To pre-assess my class, I
would give them a worksheet with small excerpts of story text that includes a character and their description. I
would ask my students to underline or circle adjectives and grade their results. I would utilize this as a class
warm-up that is not for an actual grade, but more as a way to get my class in the mindset of characters, their
description, and how to identify them. This would allow me to see where my students are at, and if they need a
refreshment on this concept.

Scoring Guidelines:
For the pre-assessment, I will not be providing my students with a grade that counts for/against their class
grade. I will be utilizing teacher judgement on this. I will be looking for students being able to identify
adjectives from the story excerpts they are provided on the worksheet. If my students are missing a large
number of adjectives, I will know they are not ready for this lesson and will need refreshment. However, if my
students are missing only a few underlining/circling of adjectives, I know they will be ready for this lesson and
may just need additional guidance or to slow down on their work. I will be looking for my students to find at
least 75% of the adjectives.

Post-Assessment:
For the post-assessment, I will be asking students to do a project on character traits. I will ask them to read a
book and provide character traits of at least four characters. I want this to be a visual project, such as a poster
or digital poster and present it to the class. These posters will need a photo of the character, a minimum of four
traits per character and concrete evidence of why the student has chosen these traits. I will then ask students to
present in front of their class.
Scoring Guidelines:
For the post-assessment, I would have a score and a percentage for the students posters and presentation
combined. I will break up the grading into: having the appropriate amount of characters, appropriate number of
traits for each, a photo of the character, textual evidence, and organization/ creativity. This project would carry
a significant grade due to the work required from my students. Another portion of the grade will be the
presentation itself (this I would give students a 100% or 0 for this section if they participated or did not).
.

Differentiated Instructional Support.

I found a few YouTube videos I believe could be helpful for students who may be struggling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Ral6GFaVs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8mgZANm9CE
I would even pair children up who are excelling with this concept to assist their peers who are struggling,
sometimes having a peer explain something can make it more understandable combined with these videos. I
can assist these children additionally during recess to help them understand as well. I can give these children
an additional activity to take home to provide character traits of their siblings, parents, family, and friends.
Making the activity even more relatable can be helpful.
For students who are accelerated, I will pair them with struggling students. I also want to provide these
students with an activity to identify how a characters traits may have changed over time and how they think
this characters traits influenced the story. I would provide them with an E-book and a Google Doc to go along
with it.

Extension
http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-a-character-trait-definition-examples.html - lesson
This site provides another video that explains what character traits are and how to identify them. This site also
provides a quiz, worksheet, and additional learning tools about literary elements that surround character traits.
Students could utilize this site to further their understanding and learn even more about the topic and even go
above and beyond to learn new things that go along with character traits.

Homework Options and Home Connections

For homework, I will provide students with a five-minute clip from the movie Inside Out. I will provide
them with a link for the clip, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU5iLRvRAA4. Students will be asked to
watch the video fill in the bottom portion of their Google Doc (the same they utilized for Giraffes Cant
Dance) of the characters and their traits. I will review the students Google Docs and ensure everyone is
understanding the concept, if not I can assist these individual students as a group. Another activity for
homework can be the assignment to get the family involved is for parents, family, and friends to provide
character traits for the student. The student can then bring in the list of character traits and their parents,
familys and friends reasoning for the characteristics and share with the class.

Interdisciplinary Connections
This lesson could be integrated with the History content area. Since we are talking and learning about character
traits, we can learn about figures in history and relate it back to their character traits and the impact it had on
them and their time period. Another content area character traits can be integrated into is Science. Traits play a
huge role in the science world, especially genetics. Third graders can begin to learn the basics of traits in
specific animals and living things in Biology.

Materials and Resources:

For teachers -Personal computer with internet access to create Google Docs and send out to students
and the PowerPoint (usually in classroom already)
-SmartBoard to show e-book (in classroom already)
-Dictionaries and hard-copyies of Giraffes Cant Dance. I can obtain these from the
school and public library
-Projector for Powerpoint slides (in classroom already)
-Computer cart if students are not provided with personal computers at school

For students -SmartBoard to read e-book (in classroom already)

-Laptop to access e-book, Google Docs, online dictionary and thesaurus
Key Vocabulary
-Character traits
-Some characters might have traits that are outside of some students vocabulary as well: persevering,
humble, ETC. I would ensure to help them define and explain these types of traits when they arise.
-Adjectives
-Physical appearance
-Intellectual traits

Additional Notes