Bridgewater

College Teacher Education Program Lesson Plan

Name: Kelly Grieco
Subject/Grade Level:

Lesson Title:

Unit:

Date or Lesson #:

English, 6th Grade

Characters in Magazines

Story Elements
Character Traits

10.27.15

Virginia SOL/National Standard:

6.1 A, B The student will participate in and contribute to small-group activities. They will communicate as leader and
contributor and evaluate their own contributions to discussions. 6.2 D The student will paraphrase and summarize what
is heard. 6.4 F Students will extend general and specialized vocabulary through speaking, listening, and reading. 6.5 A, E
Students will identify character traits as elements of narrative structure. The student will use prior and background
knowledge as context for new learning.
Measurable Lesson Objective(s): (Written on board for students to see.)
Today we will:
Practice using character traits.
So we can:
Understand how adjectives are used to describe characters in stories.
We will know we have it when:
We can apply traits to findings of characters in magazines.
Materials/Technologies/Resources Needed:
Smart Board for interaction with Vortex Warm-Up.
PowerPoint to introduce magazine characters.
Materials = Magazines
Assessment (Formative and/or Summative):
Formative Student ability to complete the Vortex Warm-Up.
Formative Student ability to come up with character traits during the magazine activity.
Anticipatory Set (Hook and Agenda):
Hook Have a bin of Ping-Pong balls. A different character trait will be written on each Ping-Pong ball. Have a students draw from the
bin of character trait options. Do not show the student the trait drawn. When the student picks out a trait, do a brief reenactment of
the provided trait and see if the students can guess what the character trait was that was written on the ball drawn. Do three different
examples and move on.
Agenda Good morning everyone, how are we doing today? Can someone please read what we are going to be doing today to the
class? The objectives are on the back board.

Teacher will:

Students will:

Greet students and ask them to look at

objectives for the day.

Read along as one student reads

objectives for the day out loud to the
class.

Accommodations/
Differentiation:

Anticipated
Time:

1min.

Access /Review Prior Knowledge:

Quickly recap what we learned yesterday by informally questioning the students about character, character traits,
adjectives, protagonist, antagonist, and the overarching unit of Story Elements through a Smart Board activity.
Teacher will:

Students will:

Ask students questions based on the

True / False Vortexes up on the Smart
Board. Ask students to drag and drop a
definition into the correct vortex.

Answer questions about character traits

by dragging and dropping true / false
definitions into vortexes on the Smart
Board.

Teacher will:

Students will:

Reading Zone Ask students to silently

find a place to read. Check bookmarks
while walking around the room. Lead
students out of reading zone and instruct
them to complete a new entry in their
bookmark for what they just read for the
day.

Reading Zone After the 20 minutes of

reading zone, go back to assigned seat
and complete a bookmark entry for the
day.

Direct Instruction / Modeling - Read

Schooled to students and ask questions
that incorporate reading strategies while
reading.

Direct Instruction Show PowerPoint
display of Magazine Characters and ask
students to give a character trait that
describes each character. Try to have
someone from each table talk during this
time. Do not continuously call on the
same students. Lead students into the
magazine activity by conveying how they
will be doing a similar activity with their
table groups after the slideshow.

Listen to the read aloud and answer
questions as prompted by the teacher.


Students will follow along with the
teacher as she displays images of
magazines. Make sure to look at the
magazine images and decide what
character trait fits each magazine
character best.

Accommodations/
Differentiation:

Anticipated
Time:

If Smart Board
does not work, as
true / false
questions
informally to the
class.

10min.

Accommodations/
Differentiation:

Anticipated
Time:

20min.

5min.

7-10min.

15min.

If PowerPoint fails,
use personal
computer

Guided Practice Ask students to come

up with two traits per table group. Go
around and ask each table group their
chosen traits. Label each table groups
traits on post-its and on the backboard
with marker.

Each table group will pick two traits they

are going to be looking for. They will tell
the teacher which traits their group has
chosen. Students will go through
magazines and find pictures of
characters that display the attributes
the students chose for their table.

5min.

Guided Practice (through small groups)

Students will work in small groups at
their tables to come up with pictures that
they cut out of magazines that represent
the character traits they chose. Ask
students to bring magazine pictures to
teacher who will hang them on the wall.
Teacher will walk around and assist
students in need.

20min.

Students will work in small groups for

the rest of the period on the magazine
activity. Students will cut pictures out of
the magazines that display the character
traits their group chose. Give the
magazine cut outs to the teacher for her
to paste onto the Character Traits
poster on the wall.

Closure: Exit Ticket with Schooled. Have a list of traits on one side of a small slip of paper that will act as an exit ticket.
The opposite side of the exit ticket will have a list of characters from Schooled; the in-class read aloud. Students will
have to draw a line from the characters name to the character trait the best corresponds with that characters
personality based on the read aloud so far.
Teacher will:

Students will:

Independent Practice Handout the

exit slip tickets to students. Ask
students to draw a line on the exit slip
from the characters name to the trait
that best represents that character.
Students will perform this activity
independently.

Connect the listed character traits to

the listed characters from the story
Schooled. Complete the exit slip
before leaving the classroom.

Accommodations/
Differentiation:

Anticipated
Time:

3-5min.

Declarative Summary Statement: We now learned more about character traits and how we can find them in things we
read. We found some examples of character traits in our read aloud and even in magazines. We will continue to expand on
how characters personalities are described in stories while we move forward in our story elements unit.
Activity If Extra Time Remains or Technology Fails:
Use personal computer to display PowerPoint. Use informal questioning if the Smart Board activity does not work.