Soon-to-be-released The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern is a lovely book that offers plenty of opportunities to study high-level character development.
Category: character development
Be Your Higher Self
Are you being your higher self? It's not always easy. Barry Lane and Colleen Mestdagh gave me a lesson in teaching this idea to my students through song, writing and conversation.
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Connecting with Characters
My husband and I spent ten hours watching "The Newsroom" this summer. We DVRed all of the episodes so we could watch them at our leisure. By episode four I was hooked by the smart, fast-paced show created by Aaron Sorkin, who I think is a genius when it comes to writing dialogue. After episode… Continue reading Connecting with Characters
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What does she mean add details?
My daughter shook a paper in front my face, with her other hand on her hip she said, "I lost points because she [the teacher] said I have to add more details. How do you add more details to this?" I looked at her paper. At the top of the worksheet she wrote each of… Continue reading What does she mean add details?
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Highlights from the Week
I have been in a lot of different writing workshops lately. Just this week I've been in 13 writing workshops and have met with 13 different teachers in either reflective practice meetings or planning meetings. Therefore, I have SO MUCH I want to record. Which leads me to my current dilemma: what do I not… Continue reading Highlights from the Week
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Winding Down the Knuffle Bunny Trilogy
Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion, by Mo Willems, was released last week. This book is the final part of the Knuffle Bunny Trilogy. Initially I felt sad when I learned Knuffle Bunny Free would be the final installment of the "series." After all, I had such joy reading aloud from the first two books… Continue reading Winding Down the Knuffle Bunny Trilogy
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Comprehensive Character Description
In order to create the world of a story for a reader, it's necessary to engage in character development. Writers must make characters come alive in their minds if they're going to create a movie in their readers minds. However, for many students, developing realistic characters becomes challenging. Many students have trouble weaving meaningful character… Continue reading Comprehensive Character Description
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Join Us for Today’s SOLSC
Last week I was chatting with a second grader about characters in stories. I said, "As a reader, I know you've noticed that characters in stories usually change in some way." "No they don't," she replied matter-of-factly. "I did say usually. It doesn't always happen, but usually, when writers write stories, they usually have the… Continue reading Join Us for Today’s SOLSC
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A New Mentor Text: Developing A Character
It’s hard to develop characters – well. It’s even harder to develop a character that’s young, irritating, and lovable all at once, isn’t it? I’ve often noticed this when my students try to personify their younger brothers and sisters in their writing. They want them to seem annoying, but often end up making them look… Continue reading A New Mentor Text: Developing A Character
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Developing Realistic Fictional Characters
I was assessing my students in Reading in a colleague's office today. As a student was finishing up a passage silently, I began looking at her walls. I found a great chart on character development. Loved it so much that I turned it into a "worksheet" of my own. (I also altered it a bit… Continue reading Developing Realistic Fictional Characters
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Character Traits
I just put together a list of character traits for my students, ranking them as positive, negative, or a mix between the two for an upcoming character study unit we're doing in Reading Workshop. That being said, this list of character traits can certainly be used within a personal narrative or short fiction unit of… Continue reading Character Traits
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Ideas for Creating a 3-D Character from Today’s M.L. Active Engagement
First, I have to say that today's lesson I taught, which was adapted from Session 11 of Calkins & Cruz's Book on Fiction Writing in Grades 3 - 5 is AWESOME. It's all about revising with different lenses. My students read my story yesterday and commented on it, which was helpful to me. One thing… Continue reading Ideas for Creating a 3-D Character from Today’s M.L. Active Engagement
