A.

TITLE OF LESSON (Writing Focus): Finding and Using Character Traits

B. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING

Reading Standard 5.5
The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fictional texts, narrative
nonfiction, and poetry.
b) Describe character development.

Writing Standard 5.7

The student will write for a variety of purposes: to describe, to inform, to entertain, to
explain, and to persuade.
i) Include supporting details that elaborate the main idea.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
UNDERSTAND
- Students will understand that writers use character traits (both physical and
personality traits) to help readers get to know their characters.

KNOW
- Students will know the difference between physical and personality character traits,
and be able to identify and come up with them.

DO
- Students will help build an anchor chart of character traits using a passage from the
mentor text Charlotte’s Web. They will also be able to create a paragraph describing
character traits of themselves and of another character from Charlotte’s Web.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
Before we read the text, I will have students write a paragraph describing themselves
using physical and personality traits. This will serve as a pre-assessment to see how
much they understand traits and if they can use them in their writing. After we read the
text, students will create an anchor chart that lists all the character traits of Charlotte
found in the passage of the mentor text (p.35-37, 41). I will provide support by drawing
the chart and asking the questions, “What does the passage say about Charlotte? If you
were to describe her to someone else, what details would you include?” This chart and
the discussion will be an informal assessment, giving me an idea of the students’
thought process with character traits. As a formal assessment the students will write a
paragraph about Charlotte or another character using the character traits found in the
passage. They may also use the main themes of the book to make inferences about
Charlotte’s character.

A good paragraph would include the vocabulary of physical and personality traits, and
one that includes inferences would demonstrate deeper thinking. For example,
sentences like “Charlotte had eight legs and was pretty. She seemed blood-thirsty
because she ate the fly, but Wilbur learned that she was a kind and good friend. She was
loyal to Wilbur because she stayed with him and helped him her whole life.”

Rubric:

Name Included minimal Includes medium Uses lots of Goes the extra
detail, does not amount of detail detail with mile by making
use both physical with 1 example several examples inferences about
and personality each of phys. of both kinds of character from
traits or use text and pers. traits traits, references traits
to find evidence from passage passage as
evidence

PART TWO: PROCEDURE

A. CONTEXT OF THE LESSON

I am teaching about character traits - how to identify them and use them in writing. This
lesson will be with a small group during our reading/writing time. This is taking place in
the month of April, while the class is undergoing heavy SOL review. My CT gave me this
topic because it fit into her plan for reading and writing at this time of the year. This will
be more of a review lesson for the SOLs because they have already learned these
concepts. My lesson will provide them with more practice in this area. From my time in
practicum, I have seen students analyzing characters with my teacher as they went
through the book Auggie and Me. Their discussions show their ability to make
inferences, find evidence in the text, and describe characters using appropriate
vocabulary. The class read Charlotte’s Web earlier in the year with the rest of their
school, and some students have used it to make text-to-text connections with other
books and class activities. Because of this I know they are familiar with the story and the
character of Charlotte, and have already read the passage I will be teaching on. I want
the end result of the lesson to be that students are successfully able to identify
character traits in E.B. White’s story, and use them in their own writing. I drew from my
READ and Social Science’s classes to come up with the anchor chart.
I will be reading a passage that highlights the character traits of Charlotte the spider, by
giving a well-rounded description of what she looks like and what she acts like. The
students will pick out specific traits from the text, and we will use them to make an
anchor chart. Using the chart students will write a paragraph describing Charlotte, and
share with the whole group so that their peers can see the different traits one can
include as a writer.

B. MATERIALS NEEDED
 Big Post-it Note/Poster Board
 Marker
 Charlotte’s Web passage
 Lined paper
 Pencils

C. PRODCEDURE
BEFORE CONNECT
Students learn why
today’s instruction is
important to them as
writers and how the
lesson relates to their
prior work (if
applicable). The
teaching point is
stated.
I gather my small group of students either on the
front rug or at a table down the hall from the
classroom. I welcome them saying, “Alright my
friends, today we are going to talk about
character traits. Does anybody know what I mean
by that? Any ideas about what a character trait
might be?”
Allow students to throw out ideas. Then come
back together and say, “A character trait is a word
we use to describe what a character is like. We
can use words like pretty, clever, or loyal to give a
sense of what someone’s personality is like.
Writers use character traits to tell the readers
what a character is like. For example, does anyone
have a favorite book character?” Allow a student
to share and ask them, “What is that character
like, and how do you know that?” Allow them to
explain. Affirm them and restate definition.

Then have students write a short paragraph

describing themselves using character traits on a
piece of paper (provided by me). (pre-assessment)
DURING TEACH Read pages 35-37, and the end description on
The teacher shows the page 41. “E.B. White uses character traits to help
students how writers us get to know Charlotte. When she is waving at
accomplish the Wilbur, it shows that she is friendly. Is there
 teaching point in the anything else in the sentence that tells us she is
mentor text friendly?” Pause to allow students to answer.
“The author actually puts the word ‘friendly’ in
the passage to tell us that Charlotte is friendly. So
sometimes the author will be really specific and
tell us exactly what the trait is, and sometimes the
author gives us a hint or a clue, like Charlotte
waving. Can anyone find another character trait?”
Go through the passage and circle or underline
the traits the group finds. Then say, “Now we are
going to take what we found in the passage, and
ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT create an anchor chart to show all the character
After we teach traits that Charlotte has!”
something, students
are given a chance to Have students look at passage and identify
practice what has just character traits, and write them on the chart as
been taught with new they call them out. When students identify a
writing or revising a physical and a personality trait, compare the two.
prior piece. (May “What is the difference between Charlotte being
assess during this time) small and being friendly? Is there a difference
between those two traits? What are they
describing?” Allow students time to discuss, and
turn to partner if necessary to throw out some
ideas. “A physical trait describes what someone
looks like, while a personality trait describes what
they act like or what kind of person they are. Can
someone give me an example of another physical
trait? How about a personality trait?”

Continue forming the anchor chart, sometimes

asking, “And how do you know that? Is there
anything else we can learn about Charlotte from
that? Can we infer anything?” Go over what it
means to infer to refresh memories. (“To infer
means to make an educated guess based on what
we see in the text.”)

AFTER LINK Have students write a paragraph describing

The teacher reiterates Charlotte using character traits. (Lined paper
what has provided by me) “Now we are going to be writers
just been taught and ourselves, like E.B. White. We are going to take
gives the traits we have found in the text, and use them
students an to write a paragraph about Charlotte. I want you
opportunity to share to imagine you are introducing Charlotte to
 (May assess during this someone who has never seen or met her before.
time) You can describe what she looks like, and what
she acts like. You can use the traits on the chart,
and you can use your memory of the book to
include others. You can also infer what Charlotte
might be like based on traits we have already
discussed. Does anyone have any questions? Does
everyone understand what I need them to do?”

Have 1-2 students share their paragraphs with the

group. Ask the other students, “What character
traits did you hear in ____’s paragraph?”

Come back together as a group and say, “Alright,

so we have seen some examples of how writers
use character traits to help their readers get to
know their characters. And we even used them
ourselves as writers! Now you have even more
tools to help you be a great writer.”

D. DIFFERENTIATION
In my group I will have at least one English Language Learner, so I will provide sentence
starters when they write their paragraphs. (Ex: “I look like ____________. A few words
that describe me are ___________.”)

For those who struggle with this, I will go back to the definition of character traits and
help them brainstorm words that describe their personality. From there we can move to
the passage and work slowly to find traits in the text. I can also have them dictate their
paragraphs to me if they are anxious about writing the words and that keeps them from
brainstorming words.

For the ones that finish early, I will go further into inferring. I will ask them what they
can infer from the passage about Charlotte’s character, and have them discuss (with a
friend if they’ve finished also) how they know that.

E. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
The students could get really confused with character traits, and not understand them
at all. If that happens, I will talk about the idea that a writer wants his readers to get to
know his characters. Just like when you meet a new friend, you want to learn about
what they are like. I will ask them to pretend they are meeting Charlotte for the first
time, and have a “conversation” with her, listing what they learn about her.