6th Grade English Lesson Plan: Character Detail

Objective: Students will explain character feelings by reading details about the characters.

Lesson Opening

1. We are going to be continuing Read, Discuss and Respond (RDR). This is something that requires you to work nicely with your table team. You will be reading something, discussing with your partners, then writing the answer. At the end of the week, their will be a test on everything you have read.

1. What other stories have we done using the RDR Method? What are the steps of the RDR method?

Guided Practice

1. Show overhead about CHARACTER FEELING. Ask the children to answer the questions you are asking.

1. How can you tell what a character is feeling or thinking? Well, sometimes the author gives us an idea. The author might say something like Mike thought, "Boy, I wish my friends were here, then I wouldn't be so lonely."

1. Often, however, you have to determine character thought and feeling based on character action. Do you think this is hard? You shouldn't, because you do it every day. Can you tell when your mother is angry? Or when your friend is sad? Of course you can, and you don't read their minds.

1. All you have to do is look at their actions. What does someone look like when they are angry? What does someone look like when they are sad? Also, think about the individual person. One person might do something different when they are angry than someone else.

1. Have them complete the RDR worksheets. Have them think about the things they are surprised to learn and the things they already knew.

Independent Practice

1. Go over the answers to the packet. Ask volunteers to tell you what they wrote down.

1. Ask the children to write in their reading notebooks about what they thought of the beginning they just read. Does it make them want to read more? Begin a discussion.

1. Using everything you have put into your writing folders, begin your story. Don't just start writing. Think about what's going to happen. Don't just think about the beginning, think of the larger picture.

Closing

1. Ask the children to share their characters.