Short Stories for Teaching Characterization

(Originally Published on AUGUST 02, 2021) In today’s episode of the Teaching ELA Podcast, I discuss several short stories with a focus on characterization: “The Catbird Seat,” “Leinengen vs The Ants,” “A White Heron,” “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket,” and “The Story of an Hour.” I’ve got an emergency lesson plan you can get on the board right now involving characterization and something from one story in particular that you may not be familiar with.

Takeaways

1. Characterization is easy to teach with a simple 2-column chart that requires students to cite textual evidence and requires students to use this evidence to support analysis.
2. The analysis chart allows differentiation for all levels. You change the necessary levels of complexity while getting all students to master the same skill.
3. Teaching the skill of citing textual evidence to support analysis makes teaching all other standards either no longer necessary or easier to teach.

Links and Resources

1. Characterization Lesson Plans Collection
2. “The Cat Bird Seat” at elacommoncorelessonplans.com
3. “A White Heron” at elacommoncorelessonplans.com
4. “Leiningen vs. the Ants” at elacommoncorelessonplans.com
5. “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket” at elacommoncorelessonplans.com
6. “The Story of an Hour” at elacommoncorelessonplans.com