Lesson+Two

Lesson Two - Character Development (Please read my comments. There is no content here Megan. None.)
**Context** Students have begun their unit on John Green's novels. They will use their understanding of narrative voice to shape their knowledge of character construction.

**Objectives**
 * Short-range objective: Students will be able to define character development. M, do you see how inadequate this is--first of all what does it mean to //define// character development. I have no idea what you're interested in students' understanding here. Wouldn't defining character development call for some complex thinking. Why not connect students learning about CD to the Green work??? **

//Long-range objective:// Students will be able to apply their understanding of character development to comprehend how a character is constructed in a novel.

**Rationale** 1) Administrators: The students will use their knowledge to develop their understanding of character construction through how that character develops. They can apply this knowledge to any text they may read in a future State exam.

2) Students: Understanding how a character is developed is key to understanding how an author is constructing that character. This will deepen understanding of discourses and breaking through those walls of societal construction.

3) Critical Pedagogues: In order to be a practicer of critical literacy, understanding how a character is portrayed through their development is key. Allowing students to break through the wall of accepting "author as God", and beginning to question why an author created a character the way they did will further enhance their critical literacy.

**Background Knowledge and Skills** Students already have a base knowledge of character development. They will further develop this by juxtaposing their knowledge and the definition of character development with social construction for the character they are looking at.

**Standards** RL. 1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the texts says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

**Summary** Students will come to class prepared to discuss the short story they have read for class "Freak the Geek" by John Green in the anthology //Geektastic//. They will review the term character development before beginning into Socratic seminars. In the seminars, students will discuss and find specific examples to display how Green is developing his characters. ** Students will then infer what this development shows about what Green is saying to and about adolescents **. ** And what //is// he saying? **
 * What are //you// teaching? **

**Procedure** 1) Anticipatory Set: Students will have read and annotated the short story they read for homework the previous class. They will bring the story with them to class to use in the discussion. Students have learned about character development in previous classes. ** What //have// they learned? ** Students will build off this knowledge to understand how and why Green is **developing characters the way he is** ???? ** M, do you see that you're not saying anything? **

2) Instruction: ** Students will answer basic questions about character development. (and what are those basic questions?) ** They will define the term and then cite examples from previous reading they've done. The teacher will provide two examples to start the students off with their discussion. The examples will consist of one quote from before and after the climax of the story. ** (huh? What quotes are these? and what are they examples of?) **

3) Guided Practice: The students will now cite ** examples???? **, ** (examples of character development?) ** with at least three students answering out loud. This will show that they understand how a character is developed and can move on to their individual discussions.

4) Independent Practice: After the students have properly reviewed the term, they will break up into Socratic seminars. There will be four groups with five or six students per group. The pre-selected leader will begin the discussion and the students will talk about their understanding of character development. Each group will be assigned one main character to track development with. They will share out one quote from before and one quote from after the climax of the short story. (** What would these quotes "prove?" Or provide evidence of?) **

5) Closure: The class will draw conclusions based on their new understandings and insight through class discussion. We will discuss how the specific development construction that Green has used for his characters conforms or confronts societal norms of how adolescents should or ought to behave. Students will infer as to what this development shows about what Green is saying to and about adolescents. Students will take notes on what they see when critically examining Green's character development choices for his characters to use in future critical readings of his other works.** (Do you see that you're repeating yourself--with referencing what Green is saying to and about adolescents w/out ever saying what that is?) **

**Special Notes and Reminders to Myself** None.

**Materials and Resources Needed** - ** handout with five examples of character development in previous texts as read in class (and where is this?) ** - extra copies of the short story for students who may not have their copy

**Accommodations for Students with Special Needs** None.

**Assessment of Student Learning** The assessment of learning is informal. I will not be assigning homework, but walking around the room to make sure the students are on the right track to understanding character development more critically.

**Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson**