TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD CHARACTER ANALYSIS LESSON PLAN

Name Arleesia Herrera

Grade Level 9-10

Subject English Language Arts

CCSD Standard RL.9-10.1-Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text
Introduction: Students have just completed Part One of To Kill a Mockingbird. Ask if students have any questions or
thoughts they want to share on the novel so far. Ask students what they think about specific characters
(Atticus, Jem or Scout). Let students know they will be digging deeper into their impressions of the
characters in today’s lesson about character analysis.
Daily Reviews: Students will complete a quick review the events chapters 1-11 with a Kahoot! To gauge understanding
https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/30bcce9b-ddae-4dc7-afbe-28eac47c562c

Daily Objective: Show students how to analyze a characters traits, both internal and external, using evidence provided by
the text or inferred by the text.

Concept and Skill Development and -Students will be able to identify both external and internal qualities of a character and how the
Application: character moves the story along.
-Students will be able to identify different conflicts the characters are facing

Guided Practice (Teacher led):
Group Practice (Whole class or small
groups):
Independent Practice (Alone):
-Explain the different between EXTERNAL character traits (Appearance, Age and Relationships) and
INTERNAL character traits (Behaviors, Motivation and Personality)
- Together the class will come up with character trait descriptor words for both internal and
external traits and write them on the white board
-Explain different kinds of character conflict: Person v Person, Person v Self, Person v Nature, Person v
Technology, or Person v Society. A character can have more than one conflict throughout the story
-Together the class will come up with examples of each type of conflict
-The character trait descriptor words will remain up the remainder of the class to help complete the next
two sections
The Class will watch the Short Clip “Lifted” https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dWAERJhHL4w
And break into groups of 3-4. The groups will analyze the young alien character taking his “abduction
test”. They will need to identify the characters external traits and internal traits, relationship with the
other characters and identify his conflict/conflicts. Students will share their findings on Padlet and
compare their answers with other groups as a class.
-Ask Follow Up Questions
What steps did your group take to analyze the alien?
How did the author tell you about the alien? (Actions, dialogues, attitudes, etc)
What types of things did the author tell us about the alien? (Personality traits)
What is the difference between internal and external qualities?
How did your group use inferring to determine the alien’s traits?
-What traits could you see vs traits you had to use contextual clues to reach
a conclusion about the character?
Students will select/be assigned one of the eleven main character of the novel T O K ILL A M OCKINGBIRD
to analyze. They will create an infographic on Piktochart explaining all the characteristics, roles,
relationships and conflicts of the character. Students will provide contextual evidence (quotes, examples
of character behavior or actions) to support their findings
Ie. Atticus Finch is in conflict with society because he is defending a black man in a trial during a
time when racial tension was extremely high. His family is being harassed because of it and he
 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD CHARACTER ANALYSIS LESSON PLAN
has to explain the the society’s behavior to Scout – “Scout,” said Atticus, “ni**er lover is just one
of those terms that don’t mean anything. It’s hard to explain – ignorant, trashy people use it
when they think somebody is favouring Negroes over and above themselves. ..”
Homework Assignments: Complete infographic if it was not completed in class.

Closure: Students should have a deeper understanding of character actions and motivations after completing a
character analysis.